Some July Blues Births:
- July 1st.,1947-- Marc Benno
- July 15th.,1956-- Joseph "Joe" Satriani
- July 31st.,1931-- Kenneth Earl "Kenny" Burrell
Answer To The June 2019 Blues Question: The blueswoman we were looking for was/is Deborah Francine Coleman, born October 3,1956, in Portsmouth, Virginia. I also mentioned that she came from a musical family -- her father played piano, her two brothers played guitar, and her sister played guitar and keyboards. At age 8 she saw the t.v. show "The Monkees” and thought that would be a cool thing to do, and started to learn guitar. At the age of 15 she was playing bass in rock and R & B bands. She switched to guitar after hearing Jimi Hendrix, then started listening to popular bands of that time, such as Cream, Led Zeppelin, and Rush, then followed those band's roots-- back to the blues. At age 25 she married Donald W. Williams, and then had a daughter, Misao Marie Williams. She then dropped out of the music field to raise her daughter. During those "time out" years she went on to become a nurse, then went on to become a Master Electrician. She then decided that she'd raised a family, worked a 9 to 5 job, and wanted to get back into music, fulltime. In 1985 she worked with an all- female rock band, "Moxxie", which allowed her to work on her own style. She got her first experience playing blues in an R & B trio named "Misbehavin' “ and toured with them for 18 months. She then took a year off, listening to all the blues bands, playing live, that she could find. Out of that, she came to understand that many of the music genres came out of the blues. In 1993 she put together a group of musicians to back her, did a frantic practice session, and left for Charleston, South Carolina, where she entered The Charleston Blues Festival's National Amatuer Talent Search, which she won, hands down. That win gave her some studio time to record a demo, which got her a contract with New Moon Records, of Chapel Hill, North Carolina, where she recorded her first album, "Takin' A Stand", which was released in 1994 (some sites list that release date as 1995). She then went with Blind Pig Records, where she recorded/released 5 albums, the first of which was "I Can'T Lose", released February 14,1997. She did one on Telarc in 2004, and 1 on JSP in 2007. Also in 2007, 1 was released on Ruf Records, a compilation featuring Sue Foley and Roxanne Potvin. In 2008 a second compilation on Ruf featured Kandye Kane and Dani Wilde. Sadly, Deborah passed away, unexpectedly, April 12, 2018, in Norfolk, Virginia, from complications brought on by bronchitis and pneumonia, at the age of 61.
Blues Question For July 2019: This bluesman is a multi-instrumental player, but he favors guitar. His stated jump into playing guitar was prompted by his hearing Chuck Berry. He fuses many genres of music into his work. He has worked as a sideman to players such as Hubert Sumlin and Son Seals. Any idea who this bluesman might be ??
Blues Song(s) And Artist(s) For July 2019: The song is "Rainy Day Blues" and the Artist is Lightnin' Hopkins. I picked this one because of the amount of rain we've had (the rest of the country, too!). Though it's not raining as I'm typing this, it's supposed to be.
Blues Trivia For July 2019: This is referring to the song I listed above. The supposed earliest version I could find is by John Lee "Sonny Boy" Williamson I, shown to have been recorded December 17, 1938, on the Bluebird label, featuring Speckled Red on piano, Willie Hacher on mandolin, and Robert Lee McCoy on guitar, with no indication who wrote it. Next up was James "Yank" Rachell, also shown on Bluebird, recorded December 11,1941, with him on vocal and guitar, Sonny Boy Williamson I on harp, and Washboard Sam on washboard, with writing credited to Rachell. Another version by Willie "The Lion" Smith, doing vocal and piano. Writing credit on some other versions list Big Joe Turner and J. Mayo Williams. There are versions by others, such as Willie Nelson, Tab Benoit, and John Lee Hooker. There's even one by Victor and Valentino, two characters in a Cartoon Network show. A great live version can be seen on youtube. It was at the Loveless Cafe in Nashville, Tennessee. You can check out that one as "Loveless Jam Rainy Day Blues". If you take the time to listen to some of these, you'll notice that the lyrics are totally different on most of them, not always expressing the same thoughts. If you hear a blues song and you like it, when you start to hunt for it at the store of your choice, make sure that you've got the correct artist, song title, and/or album title. If you're trying to find it by one line from the song, you'd better be dealing with someone who knows the stuff, or you're gonna' be unhappy with the result. Just sayin'.
(Editor Note: Just see Joe for all your Blues music needs and you’ll save much aggravation.)
(Editor Note: Just see Joe for all your Blues music needs and you’ll save much aggravation.)
Some July Blues Passings:
- July 13th., 2011-- Jerry Ragovay
- July 30th., 2009-- Betty Miller
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