David "Honeyboy" Edwards was born in Shaw, Mississippi on June 28, 1915. At the age of 14, Honeyboy left home to travel with the bluesman Big Joe Williams, beginning a life as a wandering musician, which he maintained through the 1930s and 1940s.
Honeyboy also performed with Robert Johnson, with whom he developed a close friendship. He was present on the night Johnson drank the poisoned whiskey that killed him, and his story has become the definitive version of Robert Johnson's demise.
He also knew and played with other leading bluesmen in the Mississippi Delta, including Charley Patton, Tommy Johnson, and Johnny Shines.
Honeyboy also performed with Robert Johnson, with whom he developed a close friendship. He was present on the night Johnson drank the poisoned whiskey that killed him, and his story has become the definitive version of Robert Johnson's demise.
He also knew and played with other leading bluesmen in the Mississippi Delta, including Charley Patton, Tommy Johnson, and Johnny Shines.
The folklorist Alan Lomax recorded Honeyboy in Clarksdale, Mississippi, in 1942 for the Library of Congress. He did not record commercially again until 1951.
His discography for the 1950s and 1960s amounts to nine songs from seven sessions. From 1974 to 1977, he recorded tracks for his first full-length LP, 'I've Been Around', released in 1978 on ethnomusicologist Peter B. Lowry's independent label Trix Records.
Kansas City Red played for Honeyboy for a brief period, and the Earwig label recorded them in 1981, along with Sunnyland Slim and Floyd Jones, for the album 'Old Friends Together for the First Time'.
Prior to his death on August 29, 2011, Honeyboy was the oldest surviving member of the first generation of Delta blues singers. His musical style was as evocative and vibrant as any of his contemporaries, with its ironic, colorful, weary tonal qualities and cutting, keen delivery contrasted by a crisp, slicing guitar approach.
Honeyboy didn't rely on slickness, inventiveness, or niceties; his riffs, lines, phrases, and licks are as aggressive and fiery as his vocals.
His discography for the 1950s and 1960s amounts to nine songs from seven sessions. From 1974 to 1977, he recorded tracks for his first full-length LP, 'I've Been Around', released in 1978 on ethnomusicologist Peter B. Lowry's independent label Trix Records.
Kansas City Red played for Honeyboy for a brief period, and the Earwig label recorded them in 1981, along with Sunnyland Slim and Floyd Jones, for the album 'Old Friends Together for the First Time'.
Prior to his death on August 29, 2011, Honeyboy was the oldest surviving member of the first generation of Delta blues singers. His musical style was as evocative and vibrant as any of his contemporaries, with its ironic, colorful, weary tonal qualities and cutting, keen delivery contrasted by a crisp, slicing guitar approach.
Honeyboy didn't rely on slickness, inventiveness, or niceties; his riffs, lines, phrases, and licks are as aggressive and fiery as his vocals.
This is a well recorded album, Honeyboy's guitar sounds deep, and his gruff voice is clear.
For the freeload, what is your favorite Blues subgenre?
These days I like Hill Country Blues probably a bit more than other categories. Hypnotizing. That said, I love the blues, all the blues. Thanks Babs
ReplyDeleteI have some Junior Kimbrough in the "pipeline".
DeleteExcellent, thanks Babs
DeleteA challenge: Find a Junior Kimbrough album that doesn't prominently feature "Meet Me In The City." Once asked his grandson how he got that tone & the answer was simply "his amp had spring reverb."
DeleteThe piedmont finger-picking style like Blind Willie McTell.
ReplyDeleteNobody could sing the blues like Blind Willie McTell. And remember he "ain't good lookin' but somewhat sweet and kind."
DeleteI love all blues forms but tend to listen more to artists on the soul-blues tip nowadays. B.B., Bobby "Blue" Bland, Little Milton, Johnny Adams, and so on.
ReplyDeleteBlues shouters:
ReplyDeleteJimmy Rushing
The Wolf
Big Joe
Screemin' Jay
and many more
Straight up 50's and 60's Chicago electric blues. Four or five piece bands with or without a keyboard. Like others, I chose a sub-genre only because you demanded it.
ReplyDeleteYou make me sound like El Exigente, from those coffee commercials!
DeleteBeing fond of aliases, I have for many years, when asked my name, replied, "Juan Valdez"
DeleteI haven't seen those but rest assured that you're one of the more benevolent dictators on the scene today.
ReplyDeleteAlso, you have better musical taste than the current Boss Of Bosses.
DeleteAppreciated, Psycfan.
DeleteNorth Mississippi Hill Country - Fred McDowell, R.L. Burnside, Junior KImbrough, their modern descendants like Cedric & Duane Burnside, the North Mississippi All Stars, Kenny Brown & the Rising Star Fife and Drum band. It's often tossed into the same bucket with Delta Blues, but they're very different animals. Hill Country is groove oriented -- the rule is "if they ain't up dancing in 4 bars, you might as well start over" -- and sometimes has no actual chord progression, since a one chord riff.
ReplyDeleteI'd provide a juicy Honeyboy quote, but my copy of "The World Don't Owe Me Nothin'" (signed by Mr Edwards) got packed up today preparatory to new carpet in the den.
The documentary film "Honeyboy" is really worth watching, btw.
Oops! I got anonymized. This particular "anonymous" was me. We are legion.
DeleteI'd have to say British 60's Blues boom all the way from the Cyril Davies, Alexis Korner and Blues Incorporated, through Graham Bond, The Artwoods, Animals, Them, Georgie Fame, Yardbirds, Stones, Pretty Things, Downliners Sect et al to John Mayall, Duster Bennett, Cream, Free, Chicken Shack, Fleetwood Mac, Ten Years After, Aynsley Dunbar the Brunning Sunflower Blues Band and the likes at the end of the decade and on to the likes of Dr Feelgood and Nine Below Zero during the New Wave.
ReplyDeleteI'd pick either Chicago or New Orleans styles, but in fact I actually prefer (here in the 21st) more modern takes that retain actual bluesiness. Little Axe and Eddie Turner come to mind. And with all the furor (hopefully almost past) over Stevie Ray Vaughan, lets give some props to his brother Jimmie who is a compendium of Texas stylings, and can hold his own with any guitar slinger you can name.
ReplyDeleteLink
ReplyDeletehttps://workupload.com/file/YxTWHNuJ5dZ