Flashback

John Tefteller’s World’s Rarest Records uses time travel to take us back to the old American bluesmen

Musician was stuck between gospel heaven and blues hell

April 24, 2013 | Susan Sliwicki | 0

Plenty of blues artists back in the 1930s used an alias when recording. Unlike those trying to make more money or outrun the law, Blind Joe Taggart had another motive to record ‘14th Street Blues’ as Blind Percy. ►

There’s nothing like unemployment to bring on the blues

March 20, 2013 | Susan Sliwicki | 0

If not for the repeal of Prohibition, America might never have discovered the soulful voice, risque lyrics and killer slide guitar of Kokomo Arnold. ►

Before there was hip-hop, there was LeRoy Carr

February 15, 2013 | Susan Sliwicki | 0

This forefather of the urban blues movement racked up a lot of records, but that didn’t stop his life from turning out like a blues song: tragic and over too soon. ►

Who really was the last of the red-hot blues mamas?

February 11, 2013 | Susan Sliwicki | 0

Sure, Sophie Tucker tried to parlay a song title into a nickname, but if you ask most blues fans, Mother Of The Blues Gertrude ‘Ma’ Rainey wins the title. ►

There’s still hope to find long-missing blues records

January 20, 2013 | Susan Sliwicki | 0

Blind Blake Night And Day Blues Paramount 13123

The discovery of a Blind Blake record is proof that just because a record is missing doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. ►

Think Fords are built tough? Well, they’re no Furry Lewis

January 5, 2013 | Mike Greenblatt | 0

‘She put carbolic in my coffee, turpentine in my tea, Strychnine in my biscuits, Lord but she didn’t hurt me,’ the bluesman sings in ‘Big Chief Blues.’ And all of that doesn’t even get into Lewis’ real life. ►

Bluesman McTell remains a revered musician nearly 80 years on

November 30, 2012 | Susan Sliwicki | 0

Blind Willie McTell ate, drank (a lot) and lived the blues like nobody else. Unfortunately, that life kept him from being around for the blues
renaissance of the 1960s. ►

Meet Blind Teddy Darby, the Cyrano de Bergerac of blues music

November 13, 2012 | Susan Sliwicki | 0

Blind Teddy Darby Lawdy Lawdy Worried Blues

Some guys will do just about anything to impress a girl — and then they count on their buddies, like blues musician Blind Teddy Darby, to bail them out. ►

If Clapton is god, what title does Blind Joe Reynolds get?

September 14, 2012 | Susan Sliwicki | 0

The modern guitar hero was inspired by Reynolds’ ‘Outside Woman Blues,’ which Cream covered for its ‘Disraeli Gears’ album — and which is next to impossible to find on an original Paramount 78 RPM record. ►

Blues songs from the 1930s are just as relatable today

August 28, 2012 | Susan Sliwicki | 0

Released in January 1931, Harum Scarum’s “Come On In” was a luxury few could afford then, and a 78 RPM rarity you’d be hard-pressed to even find — let alone buy — now. ►