05.04. Beverly Watkins, Paul Oscher, Hans Theessink, Larry McCray, Tim Mitchell * Rosa Henderson +

1939 Beverly Watkins*
1948 Hans Theessink*
1950 Paul Oscher*
1960 Larry McCray*
1963 Tim Mitchell*

Happy Birthday

 

Beverly Watkins  *05.04.1939

 

http://www.afropunk.com/profiles/blogs/feature-the-badass-talent-of-beverly-guitar-watkins-the-76-year?xg_source=activity

Beverly "Guitar" Watkins (born c. 1940, Atlanta, Georgia) is an American black female blues guitarist. Sandra Pointer-Jones writes, "Beverly Watkins is a pyrotechnic guitar maven whose searing, ballistic attacks on the guitar have become allegorical tales within the blues community."[1] George Varga, reviewing her debut CD, observed that Watkins “sings and plays with enough poise and verve to make musicians half her age or younger consider alternative means of employment.
When Watkins was approximately 12 years old, her family moved to Commerce, Georgia. She began playing music as a schoolchild, and then in high-school played bass for a band called Billy West Stone and the Down Beats. In approximately 1959, her junior year of high school, she was introduced to Piano Red, who had a daily radio show on WAOK, and she subsequently joined Piano Red and the Meter-tones, who played in a number of towns in the Atlanta area, and then Atlanta clubs such as the Magnolia Ballroom and the Casino, before starting to tour throughout the southeast, primarily at colleges. About the time the group renamed itself Piano Red and the Houserockers, they started touring nationally.
The group had two successful singles: "Dr. Feelgood" and "Right String But The Wrong Yo-Yo". After recording "Dr. Feelgood" the group was known variously as Piano Red & The Interns, Dr. Feelgood & The Interns, and Dr. Feelgood, The Interns, and The Nurse. The group also included Roy Lee Johnson (composer of "Mr. Moonlight", later recorded by The Beatles).
After the breakup of the band in approximately 1965, Watkins played with Eddie Tigner and the Ink Spots, Joseph Smith and the Fendales, and then with Leroy Redding and the Houserockers until the late 1980s. Subsequently she has been based in Atlanta, a well-known fixture at the Underground Atlanta.
Watkins, who not only had a long and continuous musical career, but worked with artists like James Brown, B.B. King and Ray Charles, was well known for years within the blues community. However, like many roots musicians both black and white, she found it difficult to crack the airwaves,[3] and achieved renown late in her career, after the advent of the Internet made it possible for musicians not backed by major labels to be heard by a wider audience. She was re-discovered by Music Maker Relief Foundation founder Tim Duffy, who started booking her in package shows, and in 1998, with Koko Taylor and Rory Block, was part of the all-star Women of the Blues “Hot Mamas” tour.[4] Her 1999 CD debut, Back in Business, earned a W. C. Handy Award nomination in 2000.
Watkins was playing internationally (for example, the Main Stage at the Ottawa Blues Fest in 2004)[5] as well as in her hometown Atlanta[6][7] until temporarily sidelined by surgery in 2005, but is recovered and taking bookings. She performed a set at the 2008 Cognac Blue Festival.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beverly_Watkins 

BEVERLY GUITAR WATKINS 

LIVE PARIS 2007 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yauw5X0wG3U 

Paul Oscher  *05.04.1950

 

Paul Oscher (* 5. April 1950, Brooklyn, New York)[1] ist ein US-amerikanischer Bluessänger, Songwriter, Gitarrist, Pianist und Mundharmonikaspieler.
Paul Oscher startete das Mundharmonikaspielen mit 12 Jahren, als sein Onkel ihm eine Mundharmonika schenkte.[2] Mit 15 Jahren trat er als Duo mit dem Gitarristen und Sänger Little Jimmy Mae in schwarzen Clubs in New York auf. Mitte der 1960er-Jahre traf er Muddy Waters im Apollo Theater und als 1967 die Muddy-Waters-Band keinen Mundharmonikaspieler hatte, sprang er ein. Muddy Waters nahm ihn in seine Band und er spielte bis 1971 in dieser Formation. Er lebte zu dieser Zeit im Haus Muddy Waters’, gemeinsam mit Otis Spann, von dem er das Klavier spielen lernte.[2]
Nach der Trennung von Waters bildete er unter dem Namen Brooklyn Slim eine eigene Band. Seine Band spielte unter anderen mit Big Joe Turner, Doc Pomus, Victoria Spivey, Big Walter Horton und Johnny Copeland. Mit Louisiana Red gingen sie auf eine Europatournee.
In den 1980er-Jahren zog er sich aus dem Musikgeschäft zurück und ging einem Brotberuf nach, aber 1992 kehrte er zurück. Nach einer US-Tournee mit Jimmy Rogers und der Muddy Waters Tribute Band nahm er 1995 sein erstes Album (The Deep Blues of Paul Oscher) auf. Mit der darauf folgenden Aufnahme Knockin’ on the Devils’ Door erhielt er bereits eine Nominierung für den W. C. Handy Award.
Heute tourt Paul Oscher als Solokünstler oder mit einem Trio. Zur Zeit arbeitet er auch an einem Buch über seine Erfahrungen im Bluesgeschäft. Als ehemaliger Sideman von Muddy Waters inspirierte er viele junge Musiker, so zum Beispiel Rick Estrin, Jerry Portnoy, Paul deLay und William Clark.
Auszeichnungen
    1995 Für den W.C. Handy Award nominiert
    2000 L.A. Music Award als Outstanding Blues Artist of the Year
    2004 Vier Nominierungen für den Blues Music Awards "Alone with the Blues"
    2006 Blues Music Awards für "Down in the Delta" "Acoustic Album of the Year" und "Acoustic Artist of the Year"[2]
Zitate
    Paul Oscher plays the soul I feel Muddy Waters
    Paul Oscher’s a monster: harp, piano, and guitar—plays slide like Muddy James Cotton

http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Oscher 

Paul Oscher (born April 5, 1950)[1] is an American blues singer, songwriter, and instrumentalist.

Background
Oscher was born in Brooklyn, New York. He is married to Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Suzan-Lori Parks.[2]
Career
His career as a musician began at the age of fifteen when he played for the musician, Little Jimmy Mae.
Oscher was a member of the Muddy Waters Blues Band from 1967 until 1972. He recorded with Muddy for Chess Records,[3] and together with Louisiana Red, he toured Germany in 1976. They both appeared at the WDR-TV music show Rockpalast. In 1999, he played with Big Bill Morganfield on his debut album, Rising Son. In 2003 he is featured on harmonica, guitar and vocals on Hubert Sumlin's album, About Them Shoes, along with Keith Richards, Eric Clapton and Levon Helm. In 2006, he collaborated with Mos Def and recorded the song "Bed Stuy Parade and Funeral March" on Mos Def's album, The New Danger. In 2008 he recorded with Keb' Mo' on the soundtrack of a film about the blues, Who Do You Love?.
Awards
2006: Blues Music Awards:
    "Acoustic Artist Of The Year"
    "Acoustic Album Of The Year"

2000: LA Music Awards
    "Best Performance by Blues Musician"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Oscher

Paul Oscher -Woodsongs 


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l-5KoP4o4Xc 

Hans Theessink  *05.04.1948 

 

Hans Theessink (* 5. April 1948 in Enschede, Niederlande) ist ein niederländischer Blues-Gitarrist, Sänger und Songschreiber, der in Wien lebt.
Inspiriert durch Aufnahmen von Bluesmusikern wie Big Bill Broonzy und Leadbelly brachte sich Theessink Anfang der 1960er Jahre das Gitarrespielen bei. Er trat mit der Silly Skiffle Group in seiner Heimat und auch im benachbarten Deutschland auf. 1970 machte Theesink mit Next Morning at Sunrise seine erste Aufnahme. Seitdem brachte er zahlreiche Alben heraus und tritt regelmäßig auf wichtigen Blues-, Jazz- und Folk-Festivals in Europa und Amerika auf.
Seit 1986 arbeitet Theessink mit dem Tuba-Spieler Jon Sass zusammen. Auftritte bestritt Theessink mit seiner Formation Hans Theessink & Blue Groove. 1994 erschien das Soloalbum Hard Road Blues, auf dem einzig die Stimme und die Gitarre von Hans Theessink zu hören sind. 1995 kam in Amerika das Lehrvideo Hooked on the Blues auf den Markt. Auf dem Album Lifeline (1998) singt Charles Brown das Theessink-Stück Love Sweet Love.
2001 erhielt er den Goldenen Rathausmann der Stadt Wien. Seit 2004 tritt Theessink mit der Hans Theessink Band auf. In der 2007 veröffentlichten CD Slow Train arbeitet Theessink außerdem mit Sängern aus dem südlichen Afrika zusammen.
Wenige Wochen vor dem Tod des Liedermachers Georg Danzer schenkte dieser Theessink seine Lieblingsgitarre mit dem Beisatz, er möge gut auf sein „Baby“ aufpassen. Am 29. Juni 2007 spielte Theessink dann erstmals live auf dieser Gitarre - unter anderem auch den Danzer-Song Freiheit.

http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hans_Theessink

 Dutch blues guitarist, singer, and songwriter Hans Theessink has been carving a niche for himself in the blues market in both Europe and North America. It was no easy task growing up in the Netherlands and teaching oneself the blues, but perhaps that's the reason Theessink's guitar stylings are so unique. Theessink became hooked on blues as a teenager listening to the radio, playing mandolin and guitar. His favorites became Big Bill Broonzy, Sonny Terry, and Brownie McGhee, but later on he was exposed to a wider variety of influences. Theessink was 12 or 13 when he began playing guitar in earnest, and by his late teens he was playing in clubs and coffeehouses around Germany and the Netherlands.
Theessink began his recording career in 1970 for a variety of small labels in the Netherlands and Germany, and continued perfecting his craft and honing his skills at clubs and festivals across Europe. Through the '70s, his eventual goal was to come to America to learn firsthand from the masters in the Mississippi Delta. It would be 1979 before Theessink would make it to America, and not surprisingly, his first stop was the Mississippi Delta. The trip proved fruitful, as he met and jammed with many Delta musicians, absorbing all he could from them and eventually incorporating their knowledge into his own style. Theessink's U.S. albums include two for Flying Fish/Rounder Records, Baby Wants to Boogie (1987) and Johnny and the Devil (1989). His other domestically available albums for a variety of labels include Call Me (1992), Hans Theesink and Blue Groove: Live (1993), Hard Road Blues (1995), and Crazy Moon (1997).

http://www.allmusic.com/artist/hans-theessink-mn0000553068/biography

HANS THEESSINK & TERRY EVANS - DELTA TIME (MUSIC VIDEO)


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJb7dh71kKo 

Larry McCray *05.04.1960

 

Larry McCray (born April 5, 1960, Magnolia, Arkansas, United States)[1] is an American blues guitarist and singer.
McCray, the second youngest of nine siblings, grew up living on a farm.[2] McCray learned guitar from his sister, Clara.[1] "She used to play real low-down and dirty", McCray recalled years later.[3] His family moved to Saginaw, Michigan in 1972,[3] and McCray took the influence of his sibling, and such as the three Kings (B.B., Freddie and Albert) to playing the local club circuit, with his brothers Carl on bass guitar and Steve on drums.[1]
After high school, McCray worked on General Motors' assembly line, before recording Ambition, his 1991 debut album for Point Blank Records, in a Detroit friend's basement recording studio. He was soon touring with his label-mate, Albert Collins.[1] His 1993 follow-up, Delta Hurricane, was produced by the veteran British blues devotee, Mike Vernon.[1]
In 1999, McCray recorded a cover version of Bob Dylan's "All Along the Watchtower" for the tribute album, Tangled Up in Blues. In 2000, McCray founded his own independent record label, Magnolia Records, and Believe It was its first release that same year.[2] Magnolia released McCray's first live album, Live on Interstate 75, in mid-2006, and this was followed in 2007 with Larry McCray.
His most recent tour commenced in Chicago on December 11, 2009.[4]
McCray has one son, Bleau McCray-Morel with Kelly Morel.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Larry_McCray 

Larry McCray Band - Blues Is My Business / Bluesgarage Isernhagen 2012 Germany 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nitu_pqfikk#t=207 

Tim Mitchell  *05.04.1963

 

https://www.discogs.com/de/artist/335211-Tim-Mitchell

Tim Mitchell is a Grammy winning music record producer, songwriter, and guitarist from Detroit.
Mitchell was born on April 5, 1963 to Dr. David Mitchell and Edith Mitchell (née Clements) at Henry Ford Hospital, Detroit, where his father was an orthopedic surgeon. He was the youngest of three children, second boy to older brother David and sister Peyton. He grew up in Grosse Pointe Farms, Michigan and attended Interlochen Arts Academy, an independent high school dedicated to the arts in Interlochen, Michigan. He then went on to graduate from the School of Music at the University of Miami.
Career
Bob Seger
In 1996, he played and toured in Bob Seger's band and co-wrote three songs with Seger, for his It's a Mystery album: "Lock and Load," "Hands in the Air," and "Revisionism Street."
Shakira
Mitchell produced Shakira's MTV Unplugged Album in 1999 that went on to win the Grammy Award for Best Latin Pop Album at the 43rd Grammy Awards.[1] He co-wrote and co-produced the song Whenever, Wherever for Shakira's Laundry Service album and produced her concert DVD from the Oral Fixation Tour.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Mitchell 

R.I.P.

 

Rosa Henderson  +06.04.1968

 

http://girlthang.net/RosaHenderson.html

Rosa Henderson (November 24, 1896 – April 6, 1968) was an American jazz and classic female blues singer, and vaudeville entertainer.
Born Rosa Deschamps in Henderson, Henderson County, Kentucky, she is remembered as one of the greats of the 1920s and 1930s classic blues era. Her career as an entertainer began in 1913 when she joined her uncle's circus troupe.[1]
She married Douglas "Slim" Henderson in 1918 and began travelling with his Mason-Henderson show. Her career as a musical comedian started during the early 1920s, after she moved to New York where she performed on Broadway and eventually in London.[1]
Her nine year recording career began in 1923. During that time she recorded upwards of one hundred songs using numerous pseudonyms such as Sally Ritz, Flora Dale, Sarah Johnson, Josephine Thomas, Gladys White and Mamie Harris.[1] She was accompanied by such bands as The Virginians, Fletcher Henderson's Jazz Five, Fletcher Henderson's Orchestra, Fletcher Henderson's Club Alabam Orchestra, the Choo Choo Jazzers, the Kansas City Five, the Three Jolly Miners, the Kansas City Four, the Three Hot Eskimos, and the Four Black Diamonds.
She sang the chorus on Fletcher Henderson's May 28, 1924, Vocalion recording of "Do That Thing", probably the earliest example of a female singing with a big band.
Although she began to show a marked decline in her recordings after 1926, she continued performing up until 1932 when she took a job in a New York department store.[1]
She continued to perform benefit concerts up until the 1960s. Henderson died in Roosevelt Island, New York. She is no relation to Fletcher, Horace, Katherine, or Edmonia Henderson.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosa_Henderson 

Rosa Henderson - Afternoon Blues (1923) 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VPd6Na4a_Jc