Posts Tagged: gospel music

The Blind Boys of Alabama: Run On

The Blind Boys of Alabama have been going strong for more than 70 years. Here are a list of the group’s achievements and a bit from the bio at the group’s site:

The Blind Boys of Alabama formed at the Alabama Institute for the Negro Blind in 1939. The group toiled for almost 40 years almost exclusively on the black gospel circuit, playing in churches, auditoriums, and even stadiums across the country. Their recorded output, reaching back to 1948 with their hit “I Can See Everybody’s Mother But Mine” on the Veejay label, is widely recognized as being influential for many gospel, R&B and rock ‘n’ roll artists. The Blind Boys had their own chance to “cross over” to popular music in the 1950′s, along with their gospel friend and contemporary Sam Cooke, but stayed true to their calling. In the 1960′s, they joined the Civil Rights movement, performing at benefits for Dr. Martin Luther King.

Here are Amazing Grace (more or less combined with House of the Rising Sun), what is called a vintage clip (with guitar pioneer Sister Rosetta Tharp at the end) and People Get Ready. The group isn’t done yet. In fact, they now are touring with Dr. John.

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Al Green: Jesus is Waiting

Few performers come close to the intensity of Al Green. Here is part of the AllMusic bio of the artist, who is as at home in the gospel and soul worlds:

The distinctive Hi Records sound that the vocalist and producer Willie Mitchell developed made Al Green the most popular and influential soul singer of the early ’70s, influencing not only his contemporaries, but also veterans like Marvin GayeGreen was at the peak of his popularity when he suddenly decided to join the ministry in the mid-’70s. At first, he continued to record secular material, but by the ’80s, he was concentrating solely on gospel. During the late ’80s and ’90s, he occasionally returned to R&B, but he remained primarily a religious performer for the rest of his career. Nevertheless, Green‘s classic early- ’70s recordings retained their power and influence throughout the decades, setting the standard for smooth soul.

Here is Greens are Chicago, Tired of Being Alone, Call Me  (Come Back Home) and Amazing Grace.

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Alison Krauss: Down to the River to Pray

Alison Krauss’ version of this traditional was recorded for the movie O Brother, Where Art Thou?, which was released in 2000. The great photos were added by a church in Alaska, according to the notes at YouTube.

All that you can really say is that Alison Krauss is special. Her bio suggests she’s been that way since she was a kid. Other songs — one is just better than the next — include covers of The Foundations’ Baby, Now that I’ve Found You, Simon and Garfunkel’s The Boxer and Little Feat’s Oh, Atlanta. Krauss teamed with Bonnie Raitt on the latter’s Papa Come Quick.

The instrumental Cluck Old Hen doesn’t seem to be the Taj Mahal song of the same name. In an unlikely collaboration, Krauss teamed last year with Robert Plant. Here is When the Levee Breaks.

Yahoo! writer Jenny Tolley highlights what she feels are Alison Krauss and Union Station’s top ten songs. The band is on tour in Europe and then the United States through the summer.

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The TDMB Music Index

This is the index of music that has appeared at The Daily Music Break.

 
AC/DC: Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap/Highway to Hell
Alabama Shakes: I Found You
Luther Allison: Livin’ in the House of the Blues/Soul Fixin’ Man
The Allman Brothers Band: In Memory of Elizabeth Reed
Alpine Kat: Large Hadron Rap
Herb Alpert: Spanish Flea
Amsterdam Klezmer Band: Op een Goppe/A Chassid in Amsterdam
Leroy Anderson: The Syncopated Clock
Louis Armstrong
Burt Bacharach/Dionne Warwick Medley
LaVern Baker: Jim Dandy Got Married/Playing the Game of Love
Count Basie: Whirly Bird
Black 47: Funky Céilí
Jeff Beck/Imelda May: Remember (Walking in the Sand)
Chuck Berry: Maybellene
The Blasters: American Music
The Blind Boys of Alabama: Run On
Blockhead: None Shall Pass
Booker T. and the MGs (including Donald “Duck” Dunn): Green Onions
Victor Borge: Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2
David Bromberg: Summer Wages/I Will Not Be Your Fool
Lonnie Brooks: You’re Usin’ Me
“The Original” Bessie Brown: Song from a Cotton Field/St. Louis Blues
Clifford Brown: Oh, Lady Be Good
James Brown: Night Train
Ray Brown: Lady Be Good
Dave Brubeck: Take Five/Blue Rondo à la Turk
R.L. Burnside: When My First Wife Left Me/Jumper on the Line
The Cadillacs: Speedoo
Cage the Elephant: Ain’t No Rest for the Wicked
JJ Cale: Devil in Disguise/After Midnight/Call Me the Breeze
Maria Callas: Tosca
Benny Carter: Misty/Wave
The Carter Family: Cannonball Blues
Johnny Cash: Cocaine Blues
Harry Chapin: Sniper
Ray Charles: Hit the Road Jack
Charlie Christian at Minton’s
Oscar “Papa” Celestin: Marie Laveau/Oh! Didn’t He Ramble
The Clancy Brothers: Finnegan’s Wake
Gary Clark Jr.: Bright Lights
The Clash: The Magnificent Seven
Patsy Cline: Crazy
George M. Cohan: Over There
Leonard Cohen: Everybody Knows
Nat King Cole: Route 66
John Coltrane: Naima
Ry Cooder: Jesus on the Mainline
Elizabeth Cotten: Freight Train
Bobby Darin: Splish Splash
Howard DaSilva, Tom Bosley: Little Tin Box
Rev. Gary Davis: Death Don’t Have No Mercy
Miles Davis: Autumn Leaves
Deodato: Also Sprach Zarathustra/Rhapsody in Blue
Bo Diddley: Road Runner
Dire Straits: Skateaway
Lee Dorsey: Working in the Coal Line/Ya Ya
Duke Ellington, Dr. Billy Taylor, Willie “The Lion” Smith: Perdido
Richard Feynman Talks About Light
Ella Fitzgerald: Mack the Knife
Ella Fitzgerald: The Man I Love
Flogging Molly: Don’t Shut ‘Em Down
Blaze Foley: Clay Pigeons
Georgia Field Hands: Mary Don’t You Weep
Gladys Knight & the Pips: Midnight Train to Georgia/I Heard It Through the Grapevine
Benny Goodman: Moonglow
Dexter Gordon: Body and Soul
Al Green: Jesus is Waiting
Emmylou Harris: Pancho and Lefty/Blue Kentucky Girl
Coleman Hawkins: Jumpin’ With Symphony Sid
Alison Krauss: Down to the River to Pray
The Leningrad Cowboys and The Red Army Choir: Sweet Home Alabama
John Fahey: On the Sunny Side of the Ocean
Little Feat: Dixie Chicken
Jerry Garcia and Bob Weir: I’ve Been All Around this World
George Gershwin: Rhapsody in Blue
Dizzy Gillespie/Louis Armstrong: Umbrella Man
Benny Goodman: Moonglow
Steve Goodman: City of New Orleans/Talk Backwards
Morton Gould and his Orchestra: Aaron Copland’s Hoedown
Woody Guthrie: Hard Travelin’
Warren Haynes: Hattiesburg Hustle
Levon Helm: Ophelia
Levon Helm: Short Fat Fanny
Jimi Hendrix: Who Knows
Woody Herman: The Jazz Doctor
Richard X. Heyman: Cornerstone
John Hiatt: Slow Turning
Earl “Fatha” Hines: Memories of You
Billie Holiday: God Bless the Child/Now Baby or Never
John Lee Hooker: Boom Boom/Hobo Blues
House of Pain: Jump Around
Carlos Antonio Jobim: Águas of Março
Mahailia Jackson: Didn’t It Rain/Joshua Fit the Battle of Jericho
Wanda Jackson: Hard Headed Woman
Etta James, Mick Taylor, John Mayall: You Got Me Runnin’
Skip James: Crow Jane
Bert Jansch: Reynardine/Angie
Dr. John and Eric Clapton: St. James Infirmary
Norah Jones: Don’t Know Why
Scott Joplin’s Ragtime
Louis Jordan: Caldonia
Jethro Tull: Locomotive Breath
Anton Karas: The Third Man Theme
Albert King: Blues Power
The Kinks: Low Budget
Rahsaan Roland Kirk: Serenade to a Cuckoo
Ladysmith Black Mambazo/Paul Simon: You Can Call Me Al
Lianne La Havas: Age/Is Your Love Big Enough?
k.d. lang: The Valley/Hallelujah
Ramsey Lewis: Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas
Gordon Lightfoot: TheWreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald
Franz Liszt: Hungarian Rhapsody No.1 and Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2
Little Eva: Let’s Turkey Trot
Los Lobos: Evangeline/Will the Wolf Survive?
Los Lobos, Jerry Garcia, Bob Weir: This Land is Your Land
Nils Lofgren: Delivery Night
Yo-Yo Ma: Elgar Cello Concerto, First Movement
Taj Mahal, Eric Bibb: Diving Duck Blues
Henry Mancini: The Pink Panther Theme
Eleni Mandell: Magic Summertime
Bob Marley and the Wailers: Stir It Up
John Mayall: Oh, Pretty Woman
Paul McCartney: Birthday
Delbert McClinton: B Movie Box Car Blues
Larry McCray: Smooth Sailing
Mississippi Fred McDowell: John Henry/Goin’ Down to the River
Modest Mouse: Dashboard
Moe.: Kyle’s Song
Thelonious Monk: Blue Monk
Bill Monroe: Rawhide/Sally Goodin
Mountain: Theme for an Imaginary Western
Mozart: Flute Concerto No.2 In D Major, K.314 First Movement (conducted by James Galway)
Charlie Musselwhite: Christo Redemptor
Willie Nelson: Blue Skies
Randy Newman: Louisiana 1927
The North Mississippi Allstars: The Meeting
Laura Nyro: Save the Country
Old Crow Medicine Show: Down Home Girl/Wagon Wheel
Charley Parker: Dexterity
Parliament Funkadelic: Bring on the Funk
Parov Stelar: Chambermaid Swing
Les Paul and Mary Ford: Alabamy Bound and Darktown Strutter’s Ball
Pinetop Perkins: Pinetop’s Boogie/Down in Mississippi
Phil Phillips: Sea of Love
Phish: What Things Seem
Porcupine Tree: Dark Matter
Cole Porter: Anything Goes
Dennis Potter: Pennies from Heaven (Anything Goes)/The Singing Detective (Dry Bones)
The Preservation Hall Jazz Band: Basin Street Blues/Tailgate Ramble
Elvis Presley: Heartbreak Hotel
The Pretenders: Brass in Pocket/My City Was Gone
Proclaimers: King of the Road
Professor Longhair: Big Chief/Tipitina
Queen: Bohemian Rhapsody
Mohammad Rafi: Jaan Pehchan
Bonnie Raitt and Alison Krauss: Papa Come Quick
The Ramones: I Wanna Be Sedated/The KKK Took My Baby Away
Red Hot Chili Peppers: Purple Stain
Jerry Reed and Chet Atkins: Mule Skinner Blues
Django Reinhardt: J’attendrai Swing
Linda Ronstadt: Blue Bayou
The Rooftop Singers: Walk Right In/Mama Don’t Allow
Run-DMC: King of Rock/Christmas in Hollis
Leon Russell: Crystal Closet Queen/Of Thee I Sing
Santana: No One to Depend On
Santigold: Disparate Youth
Arnold Schoenberg: Verklaerte Nacht
Earl Scruggs: Down the Road
Compay Segunda and The Buena Vista Social Club: Chan Chan
Pete Seeger, Bruce Springsteen: This Land is Your Land
Marlena Shaw: California Soul
The Shelby Bottom String Band: East Nashville Rag
Allan Sherman: Shake Hands with Your Uncle Max
Matt Siffert: Daybreak in Alabama and Riverside Drive
Rockin Sidney Simien: Don’t Mess with My Toot Toot
Frank Sinatra: That’s Life/I Get a Kick Out of You
The Skatalites: Phoenix City/The Guns of Navarone
Slim Dusty: Waltzing Matilda
Sly and the Family Stone: Higher
Southern Culture on the Skids: Voodoo Cadillac
Bruce Springsteen: John Henry
Steely Dan: Black Friday
Steely Dan: My Old School
The Steve Thorpe Band: Dust My Broom
Johann Strauss II: The Blue Danube Waltz
The Supremes: You Just Keep Me Hanging On
Art Tatum: Humoresque
Susan Tedeschi: Little by Little
Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee: Walk On
Sister Rosetta Tharpe: Up Above My Head
Talking Heads: Psycho Killer
Clark Terry: Take the A Train/On the Trail
These United States: Honor Amongst Thieves
Arturo Toscanini and the NBC Symphony Orchestra: Grand Canyon Suite
Peter Tosh: Johnny B. Goode
Traffic: John Barleycorn Must Die
Trampled Under Foot: Love My Baby
Merle Travis: 16 Tons/Lost John
Big Joe Turner: Low Down Dog
Jay Ungar: Ashokan Farewell
Stevie Ray Vaughan: Texas Flood
The Ventures: Hawaii Five-O
Giuseppe Verdi: Triumphal March from Aida/La Travia
Tom Waits: Tom Traubert’s Blues/Ol ’55 
T-Bone Walker: Call It Stormy Monday/Woman, You Must Be Crazy/Goin’ to Chicago Blues
Fats Waller: The Joint is Jumpin’
Doc Watson: Tennessee Stud
Ben Webster: Old Folks
Ween: Roses are Free/Big Jim
Bukka White: Poor Boy Long Way From Home
The Who: Who Are You/Substitute
Hank Williams Sr.: Jambalaya on the Bayou
Johnny and Edgar Winter and Rick Derringer: Highway 61 Revisited
Howlin’ Wolf: Sitting on Top of the World
Stevie Wonder: Superstition/Sir Duke/I Wish
Lester Young: Pennies From Heaven
Neil Young: Fork in the Road
Frank Zappa: Cosmik Debris
Warren Zevon: Excitable Boy
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Sister Rosetta Tharpe: Rock and Roll’s First Great Guitarist

It is really difficult to watch one clip of Sister Rosetta Tharpe. Try it. The best advice is either to not watch any, or set aside about a half hour.

Tharpe was both a  big band and religious singer. Her electric guitar playing was amazing considering the era and the fact that she was a woman playing what probably was considered to be a man’s instrument. (Check out what she does at the 1:29 mark of the clip above). She is said to have influenced Johnny Cash, Elvis, Chuck Berry and others. Vocally, she seems to borrow from the Rev. Gary Davis, or vice versa.

Here are Down by the Riverside, Didn’t it Rain, Trouble in Mind and This Train. Tharpe also was backed by the Chicago Blues All Stars and Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee. Finally, here is an unnamed piece.

Here is a bio and an appreciation in the The Guardian, an English site.

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