#Diddley bow guitar

[master-harker]

My homemade Diddley Bow/ One string Blues Slide Guitar

[kemetic-dreams]

Blues has evolved from the unaccompanied vocal music and oral traditions of slaves imported from West Africa and rural Africans into a wide variety of styles and subgenres, with regional variations across the United States. Although blues (as it is now known) can be seen as a musical style based on both European harmonic structure and the African call-and-response tradition that transformed into an interplay of voice and guitar, the blues form itself bears no resemblance to the melodic styles of the West African griots. Additionally, there are theories that the four-beats-per-measure structure of the blues might have its origins in the Native American tradition of pow wow drumming. Some scholars identify strong influences on the blues from the melodic structures of certain West African musical styles of the savanna and sahel. Lucy Durran finds similarities with the melodies of the Bambara people, and to a lesser degree, the Soninke people and Wolof people, but not as much of the Mandinka people. Gerard Kubik finds similarities to the melodic styles of both the west African savanna and central Africa, both of which were sources of enslaved people.

No specific African musical form can be identified as the single direct ancestor of the blues. However the call-and-response format can be traced back to the music of Africa. That blue notes predate their use in blues and have an African origin is attested to by "A Negro Love Song", by the English composer Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, from his African Suite for Piano, written in 1898, which contains blue third and seventh notes.

The Diddley bow (a homemade one-stringed instrument found in parts of the American South sometimes referred to as a jitterbug or a one-string in the early twentieth century) and the banjo are African-derived instruments that may have helped in the transfer of African performance techniques into the early blues instrumental vocabulary. The banjo seems to be directly imported from West African music. It is similar to the musical instrument that griots and other Africans such as the Igbo played (called halam or akonting by African peoples such as the Wolof, Fula and Mandinka). However, in the 1920s, when country blues began to be recorded, the use of the banjo in blues music was quite marginal and limited to individuals such as Papa Charlie Jackson and later Gus Cannon.

Blues music also adopted elements from the "Ethiopian airs", minstrel shows and Negro spirituals, including instrumental and harmonic accompaniment. The style also was closely related to ragtime, which developed at about the same time, though the blues better preserved "the original melodic patterns of African music"

[3rdeyeblaque]

On May 8th, we also venerate Ancestor Robert Johnson on his 112th birthday 🎉

A renowned ICON of Hoodoo History, Culture, & Folklore, and a Delta Blue's legend, Robert Johnson's storied yet brief success has cemented him at the crossroads of Hoodoo Folklore & American History. He is known for his exceptionally eerie singing & masterful guitar play amid living a hard and fast life; after having struck a deal with the Devil to become one of the greatest Blue's musicians of all time.

According to Hoodoo Folklore, it was a cool October night when Robert Johnson walked alone with his guitar down a dark road in the Mississippi River Delta on a full moon night to the crossroads at Highways 49 & 61 in Clarksdale, Mississippi. As he walks he thinks about his sorrow. He thinks about the jeers & shouts for him to get off stage. In his misery, he cries out into the night. For his weakness, jealousy, fear, & the anguish of failure. But he’s not alone. Here, he meets the Devil. The Devil heard his cry & appeared, offering to fashion him a talent so he could play unlike any other in exchange for his soul. Thus Robert Johnson rose to fame as the King of the Delta Blues.

Robert Johnson was the eleventh child of his mother's children & born out of wedlock. He was born and grew up with his mother in Hazlehurst, Mississippi until he left to stay with his father for a time in Memphis,TN. His childhood is largely a mystery. Those that knew of him, claimed that he took up the diddley bow (a wire attached to nails sticking out of houses), as music was his life long interest.

As a teen, Robert Johnson met fellow Blue's legend Son House and Willie Brown. They became his musical mentors as they played in small towns throughout the Mississippi Delta. Thus began his showmanship & his iconic fusion of singing, guitar-playing, & songwriting. From then on he lived the life he sang about, the life a mysterious traveling musician. Though as the old folks of the era would say,  “The Blues was never meant to be taken seriously or reflectively. It was simply a force, expressing the deepest roots of their lives”. That there are only 3 known photos of him in existence only adds to his mystery.

By 1931 he was a popular name in bars and nightclubs throughout the region. While passing through Jackson, Mississippi in 1936, Robert Johnson caught the eye of a talent scout who'd go on to arranged his first recording session, which went on to selling 5,000 copies throughout the region. This was the very 1st time that  Robert Johnson's singing voice & guitar play was recorded. Despite his short life & career, he became a major influence on Blue's & Rock N Roll in the '60s & '70s. He'd go on to influence the likes of Bob Dylan, the Rolling Stones, Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, the Allman Brothers, and Eric Clapton. In 1961 Columbia Records released, King of Delta Blues, which was a compilation of his early recordings; spanning just 29 cut between 1936-1938.

In 1938, a music producer at Columbia Records learned about his recordings & sought him out to perform at Carnegie Hall in NYC in front of an all-Black crowd. Unfortunately, Robert Johnson passed away the night before the show was set.

To this day, the cause of his death remains in dispute. Some say he was shot dead by the man of a paramour he'd messed around with. Others say it was a poison that killed him. His death certificate, however, officially states that his cause of death was Syphilis. Still, whether literally or figuratively, there are those who believe that the Devil did in fact collect his due.

At the time of his death, his grave remained unmarked thus no exumation effort could ever conclude with 100% certainty that the uncovered remains are his. Today, what has long-since been presumed to be his remains, is buried in Little Zion Baptist Church's cemetary, in Greenwood, Mississippi. 

"I pray that my redeemer will come and take me from my grave" - Robert Johnson’s final words

We pour libations & give him💐 today as we celebrate him for his legendary contributions to the art, history, and lore of Blue's & Black Culture. May we elevate him in light & healing.

Offering suggestions: listen to/share his music, play Mississippi Delta Blue's , & menthol cigarettes paired with dark liquor

*Note: offering suggestions are just that & strictly for veneration purposes only. Never attempt to conjure up any spirit or entity without proper divination/Mediumship counsel.

[lboogie1906]

Robert Leroy Johnson (May 8, 1911 – August 16, 1938) was the eleventh child of Julia Major Dodds. He grew up with his mother in Hazlehurst, Mississippi but soon moved up to live with his father, Charles Dodds, in Memphis. He moved to an area around Robinsonville and Tunica, Mississippi to rejoin his mother. People in the Delta who knew him claimed he played the diddley bow when he was younger.

He met Son House and Willie Brown, two Delta blues musicians who would become his musical mentors. He followed them and other musicians as they played in small Delta towns. Often he performed on street corners or in front of barbershops playing blues and on occasion jazz and even country music for tips on his acoustic guitar and harmonica.

He began playing in bars and nightclubs traveling through the region as a wandering musician, he was accompanied only by Johnny Shines, himself an up-and-coming blues artist. He caught the eye of a talent scout H.C. Speir who arranged his first recording session in San Antonio. He recorded for the first time several songs he played across the Delta including “Come On In My Kitchen,” Kind Hearted Woman Blues,” “Cross Road Blues” and Terraplane Blues which became a regional hit, selling 5,000 copies. He recorded in Dallas and began tours that took him as far north as St. Louis. Most of his performances remained in the Mississippi Delta.

He became a major influence on rock music in the 1960s and 1970s when Columbia Records 1961 released the album, King of Delta Blues, which was a compilation of his early recordings. He has been the subject of several documentaries including Crossroads (1986), The Search for Robert Johnson (1992), and Eric Clapton—Sessions for Robert Johnson (2004). #africanhistory365 #africanexcellence

[legon751]

fuck you i made a canjo

its a diddley bow style 1 stringed instrument. i have it in open g. i need to put fret lines on it though because i cant even play regular guitar much less slide guitar

im gonna probably put a piezo pickup in it too and make it electric

[jedivoodoochile]

3217º Álbum: Bo Diddley - Have Guitar Will Travel

(1960) Checker

"La edad es sólo un número". Ésa fue la frase que dirigió la vida de Bo Diddley casi hasta su muerte, en 2008. El músico que supo construir su propia leyenda a golpe de innovación rítmica, guitarras singulares y, sobre todo, de rock and roll, género a cuyo desarrollo contribuyó decisivamente, vivió siempre centrado en la música y los escenarios.

Sus gafas oscuras, su elegante sombrero negro y su sello de fábrica, la guitarra cuadrada construida por él mismo, fueron sus señas de identidad externas durante décadas. Pero lo que hizo de Diddley un músico especial fue el ritmo que imprimió a su sonido. En plena década de los cincuenta, junto a otros artistas de la época como Jerry Lee Lewis, Chuck Berry o Little Richard, Diddley comenzó a utilizar las bases del blues, el gospel y el rhythm & blues para dar paso a lo que después se llamaría rock and roll. Él creó el bit sincopado que después sería copiado por todas las generaciones de rockeros sucesivas y también tomó prestado del continente africano el ritmo repetitivo que marcaría muchos de sus temas míticos, como Bo Diddley, donde un solo acorde mantiene toda la tensión del tema desde principio a fin y es la repetición la que hace ir in crescendo la música.

Pero no sólo el ritmo le hizo célebre. Sus letras, sagaces, irónicas y divertidas, y su presencia sobre los escenarios, que tomaba por asalto en todos sus conciertos, cantando, saltando y moviéndose sin parar, le convirtieron en uno de los músicos no sólo más requeridos para actuar, sino también más copiados. Elvis Presley tomó prestados de Diddley sus movimientos de rodillas y otros como Jimi Hendrix se quedaron con su pasión por elevar la guitarra por encima de su cabeza y tocar así, creando espectáculo.

Desde The Rolling Stones a The Beatles, The Clash o The Yardbirds copiaron aspectos de su música, pero también hicieron versiones de sus temas, algo de lo que Diddley siempre se quejó puesto que nunca cobró royalties por canciones suyas como I am a man o Not fade away, que contribuyeron a hacer célebres a otros. Como muchos artistas de su generación, recibía una suma fija por sus discos y ningún royalty. "Le abrí la puerta a mucha gente y me dejaron colgado", declaró en 2003 al diario The New York Times.

No obstante, al menos el reconocimiento de la profesión sí lo tuvo: entró en el Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, en el Rockabilly Hall of Fame, obtuvo un grammy en reconocimiento a su carrera en 1999 y hasta le pusieron una estrella en el Hollywood Walk of Fame. Pero, de todos modos, declaró: "Esos honores no añadieron ni una cifra a mi cuenta corriente".

Bo Diddley nació en McComb (Mississippi), pero con seis años se trasladó a Chicago con una tía, que fue quien le crió. A los siete años comenzó a tocar el violín y a los 12 la guitarra. Sin llegar a terminar los estudios secundarios, comenzó a actuar en un dúo que después se convirtió en banda, The Langley Avenue Jive Cats, en la mítica calle Maxwell de Chicago. En 1954, poco antes de firmar su primer contrato discográfico, el que había nacido bajo el nombre de Otha Ellas McDanields se convertía en Bo Diddley. Según Billy Boy Arnold, que tocaba la armónica con él, fue el propio Arnold quien decidió bautizar así al que después sería para siempre Bo Diddley, un nombre que describía a un tipo "pequeño y algo cómico". Sin embargo, en el delta del Misisipi hay una guitarra de una sola cuerda que se llama Diddley Bow, y también se ha especulado con que su nombre artístico viniera de ahí, aunque él aseguró en vida que jamás la había tocado. En otra de las historias que giran alrededor del origen de su nombre, el propio artista contaba que fueron sus compañeros de colegio quienes le bautizaron así.

En cualquier caso, Bo Diddley fue también el título de su primer single y éxito, al que siguieron otros como I'm a man, You don't love me, Mona o I am looking for a woman.

(Fuente: Bárbara Celis, elpais,com)

Personal:

Bo Diddley: guitarra, voz.

Peggy Jones: guitarra, coros.

Jody Williams: guitarra.

Lafayette Leake: piano.

Willie Dixon: contrabajo.

Clifton James, Frank Kirkland: batería.

Jerome Green: maracas, voz en B1, coros.

Lester Davenport: armónica en B4.

Listado de temas (todos compuestos por Bo Diddley, excepto el indicado):

CARA A:

1. "She's Alright" 3:56

2. "Cops and Robbers" (Kent Harris) 3:21

3. "Run Diddley Daddy" 2:36

4. "Mumblin' Guitar" 2:49

5. "I Need You Baby" 2:18

CARA B:

1. "Say Man, Back Again" 2:53

2. "Nursery Rhyme" 2:43

3. "I Love You So" 2:20

4. "Spanish Guitar" 3:58

5. "Dancing Girl" 2:17

6. "Come On Baby" 2:52

El tema A5, "I Need You Baby", también es conocido con el título "Mona".

El tema B2, "Nursery Rhyme", también es conocido como "Puttentang".

Temas grabados entre el 14 de Julio de 1955 y Septiembre de 1959 en Chicago, Illinois.

Publicado en Enero de 1960.

[phono-optica]

[odk-2]

I Want Candy

1):

The Strangeloves - I Want Candy (1965) Bert Berns / Bob Feldman / Jerry Goldstein / Richard Gottehrer from: "I Want Candy" / "It's About My Baby" (single)

Bo Diddley Beat | Rock and Roll

JukehHostUK (left click = play) (320kbps)

Personnel: The Strangeloves: Vocals Bob Feldman Richard Gottehrer Jerry Goldstein

Session Musicians: Eric Gale: Guitar Richie Lauro: Saxophone John Shine: Bass Herb Lovelle: Drums

Produced by Bob Feldman | Richard Gottehrer | Jerry Goldstein

Bang Records

2):

Brian Poole and The Tremeloes - I Want Candy (1965) Bert Berns / Bob Feldman / Jerry Goldstein / Richard Gottehrer from: "I Want Candy" / "Love Me Baby” (single)

Strangeloves Cover

UK Beat Band | Bo Diddley Beat | British Invasion

JukeHostUK (left click = play) (320kbps)

Personnel: Brian Poole: Lead Vocals Rick Westwood: Lead Guitar / Backing Vocals Alan Blakley: Keyboards / Rhythm Guitar / Backing Vocals Alan Howard: Bass / Backing Vocals Dave Munden: Drums

3):

Bow Wow Wow - I Want Candy (1982) Bert Berns / Bob Feldman / Jerry Goldstein / Richard Gottehrer from: “The Last of the Mohicans” (EP)

Strangeloves Cover

New Wave | Bo Diddley Beat

JukeHostUK (left click = play) (320kbps)

Personnel: Annabella Lwin: Lead Vocals Matthew Ashman: Guitar Leigh Gorman: Bass David Barbarossa: Drums

Produced by Kenny Laguna

Recorded: @ The Criteria Studios during 1982 in Miami, Florida USA

RCA Records

[craicmonkeysdelight]

Welcome to my latest obsession: the Diddley Bow. I made this one basically in one evening and it cost zero dollars, just whatever I had laying around (including a guitar string, bonus!). I spent the weekend fussing over it and now I get to pretend like I know how to play, much to the distress of my family. #diddleybow #blues #roots #music #diy #making #makermovement (at Chinery House) https://www.instagram.com/p/CkQ1MWvPj5v/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[1962dude420-blog]

Today we remember the passing of Johnny "Guitar" Watson who Died: May 17, 1996 in Yokohama, Japan

John Watson Jr., known professionally as Johnny "Guitar" Watson, was an American blues, soul, and funk musician and singer-songwriter. A flamboyant showman and electric guitarist in the style of T-Bone Walker, Watson recorded throughout the 1950s and 1960s with some success. His creative reinvention in the 1970s with funk overtones, saw Watson have hits with "Ain't That a Bitch" and "Superman Lover". His successful recording career spanned forty years, with his highest chart appearance being the 1977 song "A Real Mother for Ya".

Watson was born in Houston, Texas. His father John Sr. was a pianist, and taught his son the instrument. But young Watson was immediately attracted to the sound of the guitar, in particular the electric guitar as played by T-Bone Walker and Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown.

His parents separated in 1950, when he was 15. His mother moved to Los Angeles, and took Watson with her. In his new city, Watson won several local talent shows. This led to his employment, while still a teenager, with jump blues-style bands such as Chuck Higgins's Mellotones and Amos Milburn. He worked as a vocalist, pianist, and guitarist. He quickly made a name for himself in the African-American juke joints of the West Coast, where he first recorded for Federal Records in 1952. He was billed as Young John Watson until 1954. That year, he saw the Joan Crawford film Johnny Guitar, and a new stage name was born.

In 1953, Shorty Rogers had Watson as part of his Orchestra perform for the famed ninth Cavalcade of Jazz concert held at Wrigley Field in Los Angeles which was produced by Leon Hefflin, Sr. on June 7. Also featured that day were Roy Brown and his Orchestra, Don Tosti and His Mexican Jazzmen, Earl Bostic, Nat "King" Cole, and Louis Armstrong and his All Stars with Velma Middleton.

Watson affected a swaggering, yet humorous personality, indulging a taste for flashy clothes and wild showmanship on stage. His "attacking" style of playing, without a plectrum, resulted in him often needing to change the strings on his guitar once or twice a show, because he "stressified on them" so much, as he put it. Watson's ferocious "Space Guitar" single of 1954 pioneered guitar feedback and reverb. Watson would later influence a subsequent generation of guitarists. His song "Gangster of Love" was first released on Keen Records in 1957. It did not appear in the charts at the time, but was later re-recorded and became a hit in 1978, becoming Watson's "most famous song".

He toured and recorded with his friend Larry Williams, as well as Little Richard, Don and Dewey, The Olympics, Johnny Otis and, in the mid-1970s with David Axelrod. In 1975 he was a guest performer on two tracks (flambe vocals on the out-choruses of "San Ber'dino" and "Andy") on the Frank Zappa album One Size Fits All. He also played with Herb Alpert and George Duke. But as the popularity of blues declined and the era of soul music dawned in the 1960s, Watson transformed himself from southern blues singer with pompadour into urban soul singer in a pimp hat. His new style was emphatic – wearing the gold teeth, broad-brimmed hats, flashy suits, fashionable outsized sunglasses and ostentatious jewelry.

He modified his music accordingly. His albums Ain't That a Bitch (included funk blues singles "Superman Lover" and "I Need It") and Real Mother For Ya (1977) fused funk and blues. Watson had album Love Jones in 1980. Reviewing Watson's 1977 LP A Real Mother for Ya, Robert Christgau wrote in Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies (1981): "Watson has been perfecting his own brand of easy-listening funk for years, and this time he's finally gone into the studio with his guitar Freddie and his drummer Emry and a bunch of electric keyboards and come up with a whole album of good stuff. The riff-based tracks go on too long but go down easy and the lyrics have an edge. Granted, Watson can't match George Benson's chops, but this is dance music, chops would just get in the way. And I prefer his Lou-Rawls-without-pipes to Benson's Stevie-Wonder-ditto."

The shooting death of his friend Larry Williams in 1980 and other personal setbacks led to Watson briefly withdrawing from the spotlight in the 1980s. "I got caught up with the wrong people doing the wrong things", he was quoted as saying by The New York Times.

The release of his album Bow Wow in 1994 brought Watson more visibility and chart success than he had ever known. The album received a Grammy Award nomination. In a 1994 interview with David Ritz for liner notes to The Funk Anthology, Watson was asked if his 1980 song "Telephone Bill" anticipated rap music. "Anticipated?" Watson replied. "I damn well invented it! ... And I wasn't the only one. Talking rhyming lyrics to a groove is something you'd hear in the clubs everywhere from Macon to Memphis. Man, talking has always been the name of the game. When I sing, I'm talking in melody. When I play, I'm talking with my guitar. I may be talking trash, baby, but I'm talking".

In 1995, he was given a Pioneer Award from the Rhythm and Blues Foundation in a presentation and performance ceremony at the Hollywood Palladium. In February 1995, Watson was interviewed by Tomcat Mahoney for his Brooklyn, New York-based blues radio show The Other Half. Watson discussed at length his influences and those he had influenced, referencing Guitar Slim, Jimi Hendrix, Frank Zappa and Stevie Ray Vaughan. He made a special guest appearance on Bo Diddley's 1996 album A Man Amongst Men, playing vocoder on the track "I Can't Stand It" and singing on the track "Bo Diddley Is Crazy".

Watson died of a heart attack on May 17, 1996, collapsing on stage while on tour in Yokohama, Japan. His remains were brought home for interment at Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Glendale, California and buried in the Great Mausoleum, Sanctuary of Enduring Honor, Holly Terrace entrance.

On June 25, 2019, The New York Times Magazine listed Johnny "Guitar" Watson among hundreds of artists whose material was reportedly destroyed in the 2008 Universal fire.

[blackkudos]

Johnny Guitar Watson

John Watson Jr. (February 3, 1935 – May 17, 1996), known professionally as Johnny "Guitar" Watson, was an American blues, soul, and funk musician and singer-songwriter. A flamboyant showman and electric guitarist in the style of T-Bone Walker, Watson recorded throughout the 1950s and 1960s with some success. His creative reinvention in the 1970s with funk overtones, saw Watson have hits with "Ain't That a Bitch" and "Superman Lover". His successful recording career spanned forty years, with his highest chart appearance being the 1977 song "A Real Mother For Ya".

Early life

Watson was born in Houston, Texas. His father John Sr. was a pianist, and taught his son the instrument. But young Watson was immediately attracted to the sound of the guitar, in particular the electric guitar as played by T-Bone Walker and Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown.

His grandfather, a preacher, was also musical. "My grandfather used to sing while he'd play guitar in church, man," Watson reflected many years later. When Johnny was 11, his grandfather offered to give him a guitar if, and only if, the boy didn't play any of the "devil's music". His parents separated in 1950, when he was 15. His mother moved to Los Angeles, and took Watson with her.

Early career

In his new city, Watson won several local talent shows. This led to his employment, while still a teenager, with jump blues-style bands such as Chuck Higgins's Mellotones and Amos Milburn. He worked as a vocalist, pianist, and guitarist. He quickly made a name for himself in the African-American juke joints of the West Coast, where he first recorded for Federal Records in 1952. He was billed as Young John Watson until 1954. That year, he saw the Joan Crawford film Johnny Guitar, and a new stage name was born.

In 1953, Shorty Rogers had Watson as part of his Orchestra perform for the famed ninth Cavalcade of Jazz concert held at Wrigley Field in Los Angeles which was produced by Leon Hefflin, Sr. on June 7. Also featured that day were Roy Brown and his Orchestra, Don Tosti and His Mexican Jazzmen, Earl Bostic, Nat "King" Cole, and Louis Armstrong and his All Stars with Velma Middleton.

Watson affected a swaggering, yet humorous personality, indulging a taste for flashy clothes and wild showmanship on stage. His "attacking" style of playing, without a plectrum, resulted in him often needing to change the strings on his guitar once or twice a show, because he "stressified on them" so much, as he put it.Watson's ferocious "Space Guitar" single of 1954 pioneered guitar feedback and reverb. Watson would later influence a subsequent generation of guitarists. His song "Gangster of Love" was first released on Keen Records in 1957. It did not appear in the charts at the time, but was later re-recorded and became a hit in 1978, becoming Watson's "most famous song".

He toured and recorded with his friend Larry Williams, as well as Little Richard, Don and Dewey, The Olympics, Johnny Otis and, in the mid-1970s with David Axelrod. In 1975 he was a guest performer on two tracks (flambe vocals on the out-choruses of "San Ber'dino" and "Andy") on the Frank Zappa album One Size Fits All. He also played with Herb Alpert and George Duke. But as the popularity of blues declined and the era of soul music dawned in the 1960s, Watson transformed himself from southern blues singer with pompadour into urban soul singer in a pimp hat. His new style was emphatic – wearing the gold teeth, broad-brimmed hats, flashy suits, fashionable outsized sunglasses and ostentatious jewelry.

He modified his music accordingly. His albums Ain't That a Bitch (included funk blues singles "Superman Lover") and Real Mother For Ya(1977) fused funk and blues. Watson had album Love Jones in 1980. Reviewing Watson's 1977 LP A Real Mother for Ya, Robert Christgau wrote in Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies (1981): "Watson has been perfecting his own brand of easy-listening funk for years, and this time he's finally gone into the studio with his guitar Freddie and his drummer Emry and a bunch of electric keyboards and come up with a whole album of good stuff. The riff-based tracks go on too long but go down easy and the lyrics have an edge. Granted, Watson can't match George Benson's chops, but this is dance music, chops would just get in the way. And I prefer his Lou-Rawls-without-pipes to Benson's Stevie-Wonder-ditto."

Later career

The shooting death of his friend Larry Williams in 1980 and other personal setbacks led to Watson briefly withdrawing from the spotlight in the 1980s. "I got caught up with the wrong people doing the wrong things", he was quoted as saying by The New York Times.

The release of his album Bow Wow in 1994 brought Watson more visibility and chart success than he had ever known. The album received a Grammy Award nomination.

In a 1994 interview with David Ritz for liner notes to The Funk Anthology, Watson was asked if his 1980 song "Telephone Bill" anticipated rap music. "Anticipated?" Watson replied. "I damn well invented it!... And I wasn't the only one. Talking rhyming lyrics to a groove is something you'd hear in the clubs everywhere from Macon to Memphis. Man, talking has always been the name of the game. When I sing, I'm talking in melody. When I play, I'm talking with my guitar. I may be talking trash, baby, but I'm talking".

In 1995, he was given a Pioneer Award from the Rhythm and Blues Foundation in a presentation and performance ceremony at the Hollywood Palladium. In February 1995, Watson was interviewed by Tomcat Mahoney for his Brooklyn, New York-based blues radio show The Other Half. Watson discussed at length his influences and those he had influenced, referencing Guitar Slim, Jimi Hendrix, Frank Zappa and Stevie Ray Vaughan. He made a special guest appearance on Bo Diddley's 1996 album A Man Amongst Men, playing vocoder on the track "I Can't Stand It" and singing on the track "Bo Diddley Is Crazy".

His music was sampled by Redman (who based his "Sooperman Luva" saga on Watson's "Superman Lover" song), Ice Cube, Eazy-E, Snoop Dogg, Dr. Dre, Jay-Z, and Mary J. Blige. Snoop Dogg and Dr. Dre borrowed P-Funk's adaptation of Watson's catchphrase "Bow wow wow yippi-yo yippi-yay" for Snoop's hit Who Am I? (What's My Name?). Johnny also played the guitar on the G-Funk remix of Dr. Dre's Grammy award winning single Let Me Ride in 1993.

"Johnny was always aware of what was going on around him", recalled Susan Maier Watson (later to become the musician's wife) in an interview printed in the liner notes to the album The Very Best of Johnny 'Guitar' Watson. "He was proud that he could change with the times and not get stuck in the past".

Death and material loss

Watson died of a heart attack on May 17, 1996, collapsing on stage while on tour in Yokohama, Japan. His remains were brought home for interment at Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Glendale, California and buried in the Great Mausoleum, Sanctuary of Enduring Honor, Holly Terrace entrance.

On June 25, 2019, The New York Times Magazine listed Johnny "Guitar" Watson among hundreds of artists whose material was reportedly destroyed in the 2008 Universal fire.

Influence

Watson, a recognized master of the Fender Stratocaster guitar, has been compared to Jimi Hendrix and allegedly became irritated when asked about this comparison, supposedly stating: "I used to play the guitar standing on my hands. I had a 150-foot cord and I could get on top of the auditorium – those things Jimi Hendrix was doing, I started that shit."

Frank Zappa stated that "Watson's 1956 song 'Three Hours Past Midnight' inspired me to become a guitarist". Watson contributed to Zappa's albums One Size Fits All (1975), Them or Us (1984), Thing-Fish (1984) and Frank Zappa Meets the Mothers of Prevention (1985). Zappa also named "Three Hours Past Midnight" his favorite record in a 1979 interview.

Steve Miller not only did a cover of "Gangster of Love" on his 1968 album Sailor (substituting "Is your name "Stevie 'Guitar' Miller?" for the same line with Watson's name), he made a reference to it in his 1969 song "Space Cowboy" ("And you know that I'm a gangster of love") as well as in his 1973 hit song "The Joker" ("Some call me the gangster of love"). Miller had also borrowed the sobriquet for his own "The Gangster Is Back", on his 1971 album Rock Love.

Jimmie Vaughan, brother of Stevie Ray Vaughan, is quoted as saying: "When my brother Stevie and I were growing up in Dallas, we idolized very few guitarists. We were highly selective and highly critical. Johnny 'Guitar' Watson was at the top of the list, along with Freddie, Albert and B.B. King. Watson influenced Jimi Hendrix, Sly Stone, Etta James, and Stevie Ray Vaughan.

Bobby Womack said: "Music-wise, he (Watson) was the most dangerous gunslinger out there, even when others made a lot of noise in the charts ～　I'm thinking of Sly Stone or George Clinton".

Etta James stated, in an interview at the 2006 Rochester International Jazz Festival: "Johnny 'Guitar' Watson... Just one of my favorite singers of all time. I first met him when we were both on the road with Johnny Otis in the '50s, when I was a teenager. We traveled the country in a car together so I would hear him sing every night. His singing style was the one I took on when I was 17 – people used to call me the female Johnny 'Guitar' Watson and him the male Etta James... He knew what the blues was all about...".

James is also quoted as saying: "I got everything from Johnny... He was my main model... My whole ballad style comes from my imitating Johnny's style... He was the baddest and the best... Johnny Guitar Watson was not just a guitarist: the man was a master musician. He could call out charts; he could write a beautiful melody or a nasty groove at the drop of a hat; he could lay on the harmonies and he could come up with a whole sound." Pearl Jam recorded a song entitled "Johnny Guitar", about Watson, for their 2009 album Backspacer.

Watson's 1976 song "Superman Lover" features on the soundtrack of the video game Grand Theft Auto V.

[dustedmagazine]

Brandon Seabrook Trio — Exultations (Astral Spirits)

Exultations by Brandon Seabrook

If Brandon Seabrook’s previous trio album, Convulsionaries, was quietly pummeled by a modified chamber jazz vibe, Exultations, featuring the ever-versatile drummer Gerald Cleaver and the inimitable Cooper-Moore on diddley-bow, leaves no holds barred. A makeover doesn’t even begin to describe what has happened to Seabrook with the shift in personnel, now a vehicle in full flight; while the faint of heart had better clear out, everyone else should buckle up!

Cleaver tears headlong — Louis Armstrong might have said something like “Chops is flyin’ everywhere!” — into the whimsically titled “Flexing Fetid and Fecund.” It’s a scorcher, complete with guitar and diddley-bow overdubs and riddled with effect superimpositions ready to dizzy the most level head. For those unfamiliar with Cooper-Moore’s diddley-bow, its sonority resides somewhere between a percussion instrument and a thinned-out fretless bass, so it’s perfect to complement Cleaver’s rhythmic jabs, whooshes and ribbed smears as they whiz by. The tune begins with a kind of manic shuffle, with a little rockabilly from Seabrook thrown in for good measure, but quickly blasts through the ozone layer of tradition, warping in speed as notes bend and blur. Cavernous delay does nothing to obscure the contrapuntal articulations at constant play that unify the music as it shatters time and space. If, like the end of 2001: A Space Odyssey, the opener is a trip through the star gate to fragmented points beyond, its opposite is the meditative “Essential Exultations.” The slow-burner finds Cleaver and Cooper-Moore in gut-buckety blissful groove mode with Seabrook droning in microtonal evocation atop it all, but again, nothing remains constant as the track develops. Movement is not exactly what occurs as the bow-and-drums groove dissipates, making a laughingstock out of mere chronology. The sense of hanging over a widening void, some sort of increasingly claustrophobic point over endless space, is enhanced by increased tonal density from Seabrook that eventually erases all sense of center save that of timbre. It’s the only sound remaining when the rhythm section departs, a sonic monolith floating over silence.

Like the music, the recording is bigger than life, almost cinematic. Check out the deeply earthy “Absurdities in Bondage” to hear just how deep and wide a rhythm section can come across in recorded technicolor, due in no small part to Cooper-Moore’s whoops and slides as the diddley-bow takes on a humanity of its own. Thudding, crashing through the false boundaries of history, progress and construct, each cycle delineated by what it would be tasteless merely to call a snare pop, Seabrook’s dense harmonies make the whole edifice float. His guitarwork throughout is unlike any I’ve heard. Sure, you can trace everything from Red-era King Crimson to Ornette Coleman and Pat Metheny’s groundbreaking Song X as the music rips, swings and liquefies along its chosen trails, but no allusion can address its simultaneous density and surprising clarity, not to mention the harmonic syntax that seems to be Seabrook’s own. It’s thorny, it’s exciting, and it’s unique, and that’s quite a combination for a trio format that could easily have warn out its welcome with the first track. Seabrook proves himself to be one of the most creative guitarists around, and the trio is a unit with which to reckon.

Marc Medwin

[burlveneer-music]

Brandon Seabrook Trio - Exultations - some prime James Blood Ulmer-level guitar skronk (Astral Spirits)

Seabrook's work focuses on the juxtaposition of fragmented soundscapes, angular composition, and a massive dynamic range that can change in a nanosecond. Rolling Stone Magazine noted, ”The fiercely dexterous musician has lunched a number of bands combining serious chops with manic intensity and a left- field compositional vision.”

Brandon Seabrook - Guitar Gerald Cleaver - Drums Cooper-Moore - Diddley Bow                                 

[lboogie1906]

Ellas McDaniel (born Ellas Otha Bates, December 30, 1928 – June 2, 2008), known as Bo Diddley, was a singer, guitarist, songwriter, and music producer who played a key role in the transition from the blues to rock and roll. He influenced many artists, including Buddy Holly, Elvis Presley, the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, the Animals, and The Clash. His use of African rhythms and a signature beat, a simple five-accenthambone rhythm, is a cornerstone of hip-hop, rock, and pop music. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, the Blues Hall of Fame, and the Rhythm and Blues Music Hall of Fame. He has received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Rhythm and Blues Foundation and the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. He is recognized for his technical innovations, including his distinctive rectangular guitar, with its unique booming, resonant, shimmering tones. He was born in McComb, Mississippi. He was the only child of Ethel Wilson, a sharecropper's teenage daughter, and Eugene Bates, whom he never knew. Wilson was only sixteen and being unable to support a family, she gave her cousin, Gussie McDaniel, permission to raise her son. McDaniel adopted him, and he assumed her surname. The origin of the stage name Bo Diddley is unclear. He claimed that his peers gave him the name, which he suspected was an insult. He said that the name first belonged to a singer his adoptive mother knew. Harmonicist Billy Boy Arnold said that it was a local comedian's name, which Leonard Chess adopted as his stage name and the title of his first single. He stated that his school classmates in Chicago gave him the nickname, which he started using when sparring and boxing in the neighborhood with The Little Neighborhood Golden Gloves Bunch. A diddley bow is a homemade single-string instrument played mainly by farm workers in the South. It has influences from the West African coast. He married Louise Willingham (1946-1947), and married Ethel Mae Smith (1949); they had two children. He married Kay Reynolds (1960-1980); they had two daughters, He married Sylvia Paiz (1992-?); they were divorced at the time of his death. #africanhistory365 #africanexcellence https://www.instagram.com/p/CmysODKrGnn/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[soggycheerios1959]

『Ⅲ』MEDIA露出情報

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【WEB】 ・MiKiKi インタビュー Soggy Cheeriosよ、永遠なれ。鈴木惣一朗&直枝政広の軽妙洒脱なバンド論 https://mikiki.tokyo.jp/articles/-/23814

・AERA dot. 連載「岡村詩野の音楽日和」 Soggy Cheeriosの直枝政広と鈴木惣一朗はやんちゃ坊主なベテラン　新作「III」にも進化の軌跡 https://dot.asahi.com/aera/2019120900047.html

・CDジャーナルWEB Soggy Cheerios（ソギー・チェリオス） 新たな局面を迎える手応え (2019/12/27掲載) https://www.cdjournal.com/main/cdjpush/soggy-cheerios/1000001583

【ラジオ】 ・2019/12/9 TBSラジオ「オーディナリー・ミュージック」直枝政広 選曲オンエア https://www.tbsradio.jp/music905/

・2020/1/8 &  1/15 FM長野「ラジモ！」水曜コーナー 「Groovin' Drive」コメントオンエア http://fmnagano2.com/radimo/category/wednesday/

・K-MIX「ようこそ夢街名曲堂へ！」 1月18日＆25日（土）21:00〜K-mix 1月19日＆26日（日）16:00〜FM PORT https://yumemachi.hatenablog.com/

・2020/1/30 FMまつもと「Hickory Sound Excursion」 19:35頃〜 Soggy Cheeriosコメントオンエア　 ※番組はFMまつもとのスマートフォンアプリを通して全国から聴取可能です

[thebookworm-lebouquineur]

Amougies Festival 1969 : 4h00 du matin, mardi 5ème jour

55 /  Amougies Festival 1969 : 4h00 du matin, mardi 5ème jour

« Il est 4 heures du matin et on est mardi : une journée qui commence par la fin de l’autre. Etrange, pense Fred. »

— Normal ! aurait dit son pote (compère) volant.

Sauf qu’il n’a pas dormi.

Les Pretty Things le groupe beatnik par excellence – rock mâtiné de  solos  à l’orientale attaque « Alexander » avec son lick particulier décalqué sur un plan de basse. Le batteur remonté sur scène, a repris sa place que le bassiste avait assurée en partie sur « Blow your mind ».

         — C’est un groupe que je voulais voir. J’ai toujours en mémoire ces photos de S.LC. de groupes anglais dont les Pretty Things qui posaient avec une dégaine pas possible tel des clochards dans une rue pourrie de ville british industrielle sous les poutrelles métalliques du métro aérien, avec les cheveux hyper longs affichant le look volontairement sale et dangereux. Ça tombe bien que le batteur nous ait réveillés.

         — Moi aussi ! C’était les concurrents des Rolling Stones ; d’ailleurs le guitariste Dick Taylor (qui n’était pas là mais remplacé par un musicien qui joue comme lui – assez étrange d’ailleurs) a tenu la basse chez les pré-Stones puis l’a quitté à cause de Brian Jones qu’il lui avait pris la place à la “six cordes“.

         — Ça je ne le savais pas. Par contre, j’ai lu que le nom du groupe vient d’une chanson de Willie Dixon interprétée par Bob Diddley « Pretty thing » à la rythmique très syncopée en étouffant les cordes puis en appuyant sur les notes par intermittence. A ce propos il suffit d’écouter qu’effectivement ils développent un phrasé musical qui s’en inspire beaucoup. Ce n’est pas spectaculaire ; ça fait un peu pub dancing mais c’est carré. Peut-être que cette démarche leur a coûté un certain succès et ont été obligés pour leur alimentaire de faire des films ou une production pour un fils de milliardaire.

         — Sûrement ! Mais il parait que les Stones les empêchaient de passer à la TV notamment dans l’émission « Ready Steady Go ! »… Bob Diddley, c’est celui qui avait une guitare rectangulaire comme les cigar-box ?

         — Exact ! Son nom de scène vient d’un instrument primaire des joueurs de blues avant la guitare électrique : le Diddley Bow consiste à tendre une corde de guitare un la, un sol ou un ré, sur une planche en mettant une bouteille dessous pour tendre la corde faisant office de chevalet et un boulon avec écrous de l’autre côté pour le sillet et ça se joue avec un bottle-neck. C’est l’invention du slide où l’on retrouve la pentatonique suffisant pour jouer le blues.

         — Génial ! Certainement, leurs morceaux ne sont pas très originaux mais puissants – carrés comme tu dis.

         — Ça vient du rythme qui s’appelle d’ailleurs le Bob Diddley Beat provenant du Mambo et du Hambone.

         — Quésacko ?

         — Je ne joue pas au musicologue ; je l’ai lu parce que je m’intéressais aux « Pretty Things » et j’ai découvert que le Hambone consiste aux chanteurs et chanteuses de blues de s’accompagner de percussions en se tapant sur les cuisses, les jambes et les genoux ainsi que sur les joues.

         — J’ai déjà vu ça.  Ça me dit quelquechose. Effectivement les rythmes sont proches. Ça peut être l’explication.

— Ceci dit ils ont fait 3 titres et ça fait une heure. C’est certainement l’habitude des pros dans les pubs.

— Toi qui semble les connaître. Les solos du guitariste sont très spéciaux et courts.

— Je dirais que c’est plutôt des licks qui découlent de cette musique syncopée. Mais si tu écoutes Bob Diddley ; il fait des licks identiques. La différence c’est que le lead-guitar des “Pretty” joue des accords barrés etc., en standard alors que Diddley est accordé en open.

— C’est-à-dire des licks ? Et Accordé en open ?

— Lick, lécher ! Des coups de langues mot à mot mais on comprend ce que cela veut dire : Des courtes séries de notes utilisées dans les solos et les mélodies. Le riff c’est la même chose mais grosso modo avec les accords. En standard, on fait les accords que tu connais. En open, les accords sont différents certes mais tu as la particularité d’avoir à vide un accord sans mettre les doigts ou le bottleneck  dans la clé dans laquelle tu t’es accordée. C’est-à-dire si tu es en Sol Majeur et bien tu joues toutes les cordes et ainsi de suite ? Tu as donc le La à la 2ème case et par conséquent, toute la gamme pentatonique  en simple barré,

en slide ou avec le doigt (l’index).

— C’est vraiment particulier la guitare ; c’est un instrument qui n’est pas figé qui peut évoluer tout le temps.

— C’est pour ça qu’il est moderne et que des millions et des millions de jeunes veulent en jouer.

— Pour revenir au groupe évidemment le look du groupe de sales gosses interpellent mais en dehors de ça il y a l’influence américaine du blues très particulier d’ailleurs et leur manière de jouer pratiquement tout en accord à part quelques petits solos ça et là – dû parait-il à leur façon au début de jouer du “Rhythm & Blues trash“ et à leurs explorations psychédéliques dixit Phil May le chanteur.

Puis ils ont fait SF Sorrow l’un des premiers opéra rock en 1968 ; qui raconte la vie de Sebastian F. Sorrow enfant né dans l’Angleterre pauvre, l’usine, premiers émois sexuels, la guerre, la dépression, le désenchantement et la vieillesse.

Et il y a une autre chose qui me plaît chez Dick Taylor c’est son choix de guitares : Gibson 335, Hutchins copie Harmony H78 ou encore une Höfner verithin – un son trash tel une guitare bas de gamme fabriquée en Asie, guttural dans les basses et carillon dans les aigus comme dit l’autre.

— Bien vu ! Complètement d’accord !

Dave Burrell / le grand nettoyage sonore et le recyclage du verre / le lavage des scories et écouvillons du cerveau / plus de force de concentration pour écouter seulement submergé  par les vagues ardentes…

Surman /  Fatigue /  Froid /  Humidité  /  leitmotiv qui revient sur les lèvres des veilleurs / “Grandes vagues souples“, segments mélodiques explorés puis accélération… puis l’aube blanche à travers la toile de tente.

         Fred & Marc se lèvent et plient grosso modo leurs duvets puis jettent un œil sur la scène où le Gong s’est installé sur l’autre plateau pendant que les autres jouaient. Ils en écoutent un peu puis un musico’s prend un tambour “napoléonien“ ; et là c’est le trop-plein assommés comme ils le sont – et même si Daevid Allen ex-Soft Machine mérite leurs écoutes. Ils battent retraite.

         Les gardiens avaient ouvert en grand la porte d’entrée du chapiteau ; la (l’odeur de la) campagne s’invitait dans la tente, diaphane et calme. Le brouillard s’était dissipé et la pluie disparue ; un grand soleil était venu les remplacer. Cet éblouissement d’un ciel sans bruit pesait tel un grand manteau blanc en hiver sur des âmes épuisées.

         Peu de dialogues dans le chemin de terre boueux vers la tente (du – le - gîte) des couchages. Tout à chacun semblait noyé dans ses rêves, les sens encore (labourés) torturés par la rage sonore électrifiée. Mystifiés, transis par l’accumulation massive de concepts musicaux inédits, savants, ou inconnus…  

Dés l’entrée, ils assistent à une scène hyperréaliste de hippies telles les peintures du même nom – l’herbe du pré qui commençait à jaunir en touffes accueillait à même le sol des festivaliers assis sur le bord d’un plancher saisis dans leurs vêtements de sortie (d’apparat hip), écrasés par le sommeil.

A leurs têtes des détritus de toutes sortes mais aussi aux pieds de celles et ceux qui ne voulaient pas se coucher dans la “fange“ et restaient stoïques, assis sur le bord des praticables (modules) de la piste de salle de bal avant de sombrer la tête sur leurs genoux. Ils faisaient un peu 16ème comme celles et ceux qu’ils croisaient au Golf. Ils portaient des habits sans aucune froissure ? Tous leurs vêtements réfléchissaient une palette de couleurs chatoyantes.

D’autres étaient avachis sur les planches les bottes de cow-boy (en l’air) à l’air libre se reposant sur les coudes. Certain(e)s arboraient des tee-shirts car la tente était chauffée et de plus elle était quasiment remplie de spectateurs qui se reposaient. Fred & Marc durent se faufiler entre les corps affalés ou assis pour trouver une place.

Les coiffures avec les cheveux longs des types blonds, noirs, bouclés…etc, et celles des filles autrement plus sophistiquées dans le relâchement, laissait souffler un esprit de liberté (aurait dit Dylan) mais pas communautaire – chacun(e)s restaient dans son pré carré. Des chapeaux s’affichaient ça & là.

Des gens paradaient debout en discutant attifés avec des fripes des Puces de Clignancourt ou des vestes léopards du Carreau du Temple. Cela leur permettaient d’exercer une vigie dialoguée socio-musico-analytique en survolant du regard la masse informe des sacs de couchages à leurs pieds – évidement les cheveux (étaient) bouclés, crêpés et jetés nonchalamment  sur

les épaules.

Arrivés dans le milieu de la tente, ils trouvèrent de la place pour étendre leurs  duvets  puis Fred retira sa parka se retrouvant avec sa chemise à fleurs bleues et violettes époque d’Antoine en sur-chemise dont il remonta les manches sur un pull noir. Puis ils s’engouffrèrent dans leurs sacs en se couvrant le visage pour atténuer la lumière et recharger leurs batteries neuroniques.