1909 Ida Goodson*
1926 R. L. Burnside*
1963 Chicago Slim*
2008 Robert Lucas+
Gail Muldrow*
Scottie Blinn*
Happy Birthday
R. L. Burnside *23.11.1926
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R. L. Burnside (eigentlich Robert Lee Burnside, * 23. November 1926 bei Oxford, Mississippi, USA; † 1. September 2005 in Memphis, Tennessee) war ein US-amerikanischer Bluessänger, der durch seinen einfachen, rauen Blues bekannt wurde.
Burnside wurde 1926 wie der Bluesmusiker Fred McDowell im nördlichen Mississippi-Delta geboren. Bei McDowell lernte er Gitarre spielen, aber auch bei seinen Nachbarn Son Hibbler, Ranie Burnette, Willie Thomas und Jessie Vortis. Er wurde zudem von John Lee Hooker, Lightnin’ Hopkins und Muddy Waters stark beeinflusst. Burnside lebte in Chicago und Memphis, bevor er 1959 in seiner Heimat Mississippi ansässig wurde und eine kleine Bar eröffnete, in der er seinen Blues spielte. Nebenbei verkaufte er selbstgemachten Whiskey und war als Baumwollfarmer tätig.
Seine erste Schallplatte nahm Burnside 1966 im Alter von 40 Jahren auf, nachdem er den Folkloresammler George Mitchell kennengelernt hatte. 1979 fand seine erste Tournee statt, auch in Europa. 1991 wurde er Berufsmusiker und gab seine Tätigkeit als Farmer auf. In den 1990er Jahren war er auch zusammen mit den Beastie Boys und der Band The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion auf Tournee. Mit Jon Spencer nahm er 1996 das Album A Ass Pocket of Whiskey auf. 1991 war er in dem Dokumentarfilm Deep Blues von Robert Mugge zu sehen und zu hören. 2001 erhielt er den Living Blues Award als bester männlicher Blueskünstler. 2004 trat er zusammen mit den North Mississippi Allstars beim Bonnaroo-Festival auf. Das Konzert wurde auf CD veröffentlicht. Seine letzte Platte A Bothered Mind nahm er 2004 mit seinem langjährigen Label Fat Possum Records auf.
R. L. Burnside starb am 1. September 2005 im St. Francis Hospital in Memphis an den Folgen eines Herzinfarktes und einer Bypass-Operation aus dem Jahr 2004. Er hinterließ seine Frau Alice Mae, zwölf Kinder und zahlreiche Enkel.
R. L. Burnside (November 23, 1926 – September 1, 2005) was an American blues singer, songwriter, and guitarist who lived much of his life in and around Holly Springs, Mississippi. He played music for much of his life, but did not receive much attention until the early 1990s.[1] In the latter half of the 1990s, Burnside recorded and toured with Jon Spencer, garnering crossover appeal and introducing his music to a new fan base within the punk and garage rock scene.
Life and career
Early life and career
Burnside was born in 1926[1] to Ernest Burnside and Josie Garden,[2] in Harmontown,[3] or College Hill,[4][5] Lafayette County, Mississippi, United States. His first name is variously given as R. L., Rl, Robert Lee, Rural, Ruel or Rule.
Burnside moved to Chicago in 1944, or 1947,[2] in the hope of finding better economic opportunities.[6] He did find jobs at metal and glass factories,[6][7] had the company of Muddy Waters (his cousin-in-law),[7] and married Alice Mae Taylor in 1949,[7] but things did not turn out as he had hoped. Within the span of one year his father, two brothers, and uncle were all murdered in the city.[8]
Around 1953,[2] or 1959,[9] he left Chicago and went back to Mississippi to work the farms and raise a family. He spent most of his life in North Mississippi, working as a sharecropper and a commercial fisherman, as well as playing guitar in juke joints and bars.[3] Burnside killed a man at a dice game, was convicted of murder and incarcerated in Parchman farm[10] in 1955 or 1959. He would later relate that his boss at the time had arranged to release him after six months, as he needed Burnside's skills as a tractor driver; and about the incident, "I didn't mean to kill nobody. I just meant to shoot the sonofabitch in the head and two times in the chest. Him dying was between him and the Lord."[11]
He performed in Mississippi since he came back south.[9] Although he dabbled in guitar playing ever since he was sixteen, he learned mostly from Mississippi Fred McDowell,[9] who lived nearby since Burnside was a child, and eventually joined his gigs to play a late set.[12] Other local collaborators were Rainie Burnette and Jesse Vortis. Burnside cited Muddy Waters, Lightnin' Hopkins and John Lee Hooker as influences.[1]
His earliest recordings were made in 1967 by George Mitchell and released on Arhoolie Records. Another album of acoustic material was recorded in 1969. A 1979 recording for David Evans' record label, High Water, was the first to feature Burnside's Sound Machine, an accompaniment from family members on drums, bass and guitar. He went back to play solo, or accompanied by harmonica, when recorded between 1980 and 1987 by Leo Bruin in Groningen, Netherlands.
Later life and career
In the 1990s, Burnside appeared in the documentary Deep Blues and began recording for the Oxford, Mississippi, label Fat Possum Records.[1] Founded by Living Blues magazine editor Peter Redvers-Lee and Matthew Johnson, the label was dedicated to recording aging North Mississippi bluesmen such as Burnside and Junior Kimbrough.[10]
Burnside remained with Fat Possum from that time until his death, and he usually performed with drummer Cedric Burnside, his grandson, and with his friend and understudy, the slide guitarist Kenny Brown, with whom he began playing in 1971 and claimed as his "adopted son."
In the mid 1990s, Burnside attracted the attention of Jon Spencer, the leader of the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, touring and recording with this group and gaining a new audience in the process. The 1996 album A Ass Pocket of Whiskey, recorded with Jon Spencer, gained critical acclaim, earning praise from Bono and Iggy Pop. During this time he also provided entertainment at private events such as Richard Gere's birthday party.
After the death of Kimbrough and the burning of Kimbrough's juke joint in Chulahoma, Mississippi, Burnside quit recording studio material for Fat Possum, though he did continue to tour. The label produced a series of albums in which previously recorded materials were remixed, with an eye to techno, downtempo and hip-hop listeners. Notably, Come On In (1998), Wish I Was In Heaven Sitting Down (2000) and A Bothered Mind (2004), the first of which includes collaborations with Kid Rock and Lyrics Born. These albums received mixed reviews, some describing the results as "unnatural"[13] while others lauded the playful spirit,[14] or "the way it yokes authentic blues feeling to new technology".[15] Commercially, the remixes were successful, and two tracks from Come On In were included in The Sopranos ' soundtrack. In Between, Fat Possum released more traditional albums, drawing from previously unreleased material, both of their own sessions and from before their time. After a heart attack in 2001, Burnside's doctor advised him to stop drinking; Burnside did, but he reported that change left him unable to play.[11]
Death and legacy
Burnside had been in declining health since heart surgery in 1999.[1] He died at St. Francis Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee on September 1, 2005 at the age of 78.[1][16] Services were held at Rust College in Holly Springs, with burial in the Free Springs Cemetery in Harmontown. Around the time of his death, he resided in Byhalia, Mississippi and his immediate survivors included:
His wife: Alice Mae Taylor Burnside (1932-2008),[17] married 1949;[7][10]
Daughters: Mildred Jean Burnside (1949-2010),[18] Linda Jackson, Brenda Kay Brooks, and
Pamela Denise Burnside;
Sons: Melvin Burnside, R.L. Burnside Jr. (1954-2010),[19] Calvin Burnside, Joseph Burnside,
Daniel Burnside, Duwayne Burnside, Dexter Burnside, Garry Burnside, and Rodger Harmon
Sisters: Lucille Burnside, Verelan Burnside, and Mat Burnside
Brother: Jesse Monia
35 grandchildren
32 great-grandchildren[20]
Members of his large extended family continue to play blues in the Holly Springs area: grandson Cedric Burnside toured with Kenny Brown and others, while Duwayne Burnside has played guitar with the North Mississippi Allstars (Polaris; Hill Country Revue with R. L. Burnside). Youngest son Garry Burnside used to play bass guitar with Junior Kimbrough and, in 2006, released an album with Cedric. In 2013, Duwayne Burnside and business partner Adrian Pinson opened up Alice Mae's café, named after Alice Mae Burnside on the square in Holly Springs, where the Burnside and Kimbrough sons perform when they are not touring.
Style
Burnside had a powerful, expressive voice and played both electric and acoustic guitar, with and without a slide. His drone-heavy style was more characteristic of North Mississippi hill country blues than Delta blues. Like other country blues musicians, he did not always adhere to strict 12- or 16-bar blues patterns, often adding extra beats to a measure as he saw fit. He referred to this rhythmic eccentricity as "Burnside style" and recommended that backing musicians familiarize themselves with his style before playing along.
As was the case with his first role model John Lee Hooker, Burnside's earliest recordings sound quite similar to one another, even repetitive, in vocal and instrumental styling. Many of these songs eschew traditional chord changes in favor of a single chord or a simple bassline pattern that repeats throughout. Burnside played the guitar fingerstyle—without a pick—and often in open-G tuning. His vocal style is characterized by a tendency to "break" briefly into falsetto, usually at the end of long notes.
Like his contemporary T-Model Ford, Burnside favored a stripped-down approach to the blues, marked by a quality of rawness, and portrayed himself as a lifelong hard-drinking man singing songs of swagger and rebellion.
His work with Jon Spencer gained the attention of the alternative rock audience and was later cited as an influence by Hillstomp[1] and covered on record by The Immortal Lee County Killers. Burnside's fellow Fat Possum musicians The Black Keys also credit him as an influence and interpolated his "Skinny Woman" into their track "Busted" .
Burnside knew many toasts—African American narrative folk poems such as "Signifying monkey" and "Tojo Told Hitler"—and fondly recited them between songs at his concerts and on recordings.R. L. Burnside (November 23, 1926 – September 1, 2005) was an American blues singer, songwriter, and guitarist who lived much of his life in and around Holly Springs, Mississippi. He played music for much of his life, but did not receive much attention until the early 1990s.[1] In the latter half of the 1990s, Burnside recorded and toured with Jon Spencer, garnering crossover appeal and introducing his music to a new fan base within the punk and garage rock scene.
Daniel Ivankovich
DR. DAN "D-ROCK" IVANKOVICH (Gitarre / Gesang): Chicago ist eine Musik-Veteran von beeindruckender Statur. Er schnitt seine Zähne als Bluesman im zarten Alter von 18 Jahren als musikalischer Leiter für den legendären Bluesman Otis Rush. Nach fast einem Jahrzehnt Tour mit einem whoa € ™ s, die von den Blues, er die Bühne geteilt ist mit Legenden, die einschließen: Johnny Winter, Stevie Ray & Jimmie Vaughan, Bo Diddley, Chuck Berry, Buddy Guy und Junior Wells. Wenn nicht auf der Bühne, ist der Reverend CEO von OnePatient-Global Health Initiative, Ärztlicher Direktor des Knochens Squad, und aktiv Blogs über soziale und politische Themen unter ReverendDoctorD.
Daniel Anthony Ivankovich MD (b. 1963) is an American orthopedic surgeon, media personality, humanitarian, and blues musician with the Chicago Blues All-Stars. He is from Chicago, Illinois where he is known for his efforts on behalf of the under-served in Chicago's inner city via The Bone Squad.[1][2][3] He is medical director and co-founder OnePatient - Global Health Initiative, a non-profit foundation created “to treat patients...who have musculoskeletal health disorders regardless of their ability to pay.”[1][4] OnePatient is based in Chicago, Illinois
Ivankovich was born in Zagreb, Croatia on November 23, 1963. His family defected from the former Yugoslavia to Chicago, Illinois in 1965
Daniel Ivankovich and his musical partner, "Killer" Ray Allison, are founding members, principal instrumentalists and vocalists for the Chicago Blues All-Stars.[25] In 2010, "Killer" Ray Allison, Ivankovich long-time collaborator, was inducted in the Blues Hall of Fame, as a Great Master Blues Artist. Ivankovich has played alongside myriad Chicago blues and rock musicians such as Chuck Berry, James Cotton, Bo Diddley, Buddy Guy, Homesick James, Magic Slim, Hubert Sumlin, Eddie Taylor and Junior Wells.[4][25] He also had a stint as bandleader for Otis Rush.[4][25] Ivankovich also performs and records as a solo artist under the name Chicago Slim.[26]
In 2013, the Chicago Blues All-Stars released Red Hot & Blue.[27]
Ivankovich is also a guitar historian and collector who specializes in guitars made in Chicago, Illinois.[28] He is endorsed by Carapelli Guitars and GHS Strings
"KILLER" RAY & CHICAGO SLIM . . "SMOKESTACK LIGHTNING"
Nun ja, das ist so eine Sache mit den Geheimtipps. Zumal wenn sie so geheim sind, dass anscheinend nur 7(!) – in Buchstaben „sieben“ Zuschauer davon wissen und sich dann auch noch zum Konzert einfinden. Schade, schade.
Die Drei aus dem kalifornischen San Diego auf der Bühne des „Spirit of 66“ hätten auch an einem Montagabend im September 2012 mehr Beachtung verdient. Denn wir erleben hier eine spielfreudige Band, die im Können zugkräftigeren Acts in Nichts nachsteht. Scottie Blinn ist sicher einigen noch aus seiner Zeit bei den Mississippi Mudsharks bekannt.
Gesegnet mit einer kohlenschwarzen, gewaltigen Stimme und einer gitarrenspielerischen Fertigkeit, die ihresgleichen suchen. Begleitet wird er von seiner Frau Roxie Coverdale an Bass und weiterer Stimme und Halie Allen an den Drums. Seit etwa einem Jahr spielt man in dieser formidablen Besetzung. Denn die beiden Ladies verstehen ihr Handwerk aus dem Effeff und runden das Powertrio perfekt ab.
Das Repertoire stammt zu einem Großteil von der aktuellen CD „Songs That Shake the Cage“, die im Übrigen äußerst empfehlenswert ist. Wir hören Eigenkompositionen, wie „ Shake“ oder „Hard Times“ , aber auch Coverversionen „Mary, Don’t You Weep No More“ oder „Where Did You Sleep Last Night“ (auch bekannt unter dem Titel „Black Girl“ oder „In The Pines“). Slim Harpo’s „Scratch My Back“ ist ebenso mit von der Partie wie T- Bone Walker’s „Mean Old World“.
Als Scottie Blinn seine Gretsch- Gitarre gegen eine Stratocaster tauscht, um Stevie Ray Vaughan’s „Texas Flood“ anzustimmen ist der Abend geradezu perfekt. Was für eine Stimme und was für ein ausdrucksstarkes Gitarrenspiel! Augen zu und nur auf die Musik konzentriert beginnt man sofort an die Wiederauferstehung des Gitarrenmeisters aus Texas zu glauben.
Nun könnte man ja glauben, dass angesichts der mangelnden Masse vor der Bühne die Band mit einer – na, sagen wir – etwas verhaltenen Arbeitsmoral antwortet. Nichts davon! Gute zwei Stunden lang kommt das von der Bühne, was meinen Tag nach all dem Stress und Ärger der letzten Stunden zu einem mehr als versöhnlichen Abschluss führt. Wieder einmal bin ich froh, dass ich das Gesäß in die Höhe bekommen habe und die 40km gefahren bin und jetzt zu den „Glorreichen Sieben“ gehöre, die sich dieses quasi Privatkonzert nicht haben entgehen lassen.
Leute, unterstützt die Live- Musik vor Ort und gerne auch etwas weiter weg. Sonst wird es sie bald nicht mehr geben. Vor allem wenn es sich um so hoch karätige Bands wie Black Market III handelt.
Wenn dieser Artikel etwas dazu beigetragen hat, für Black Market III den Status des Geheimtipps aufzuweichen, dann freut mich das. Denn diese Band hat es verdient. Voll und ganz. Fazit: Unbedingt nicht verpassen!! Man sieht sich…
In the mid-1990s, no one ruled the San Diego electric Blues scene like the Mississippi Mudsharks. They won SDMA’s Best Blues Band in ‘95, ’96, and ’97. They opened for Willie Nelson, Buddy Guy, George Clinton, Dick Dale, and almost every big name blues band that rolled through San Diego. They cut two #1-selling CDs on the CrossCut blues charts in Europe. They held weekly court at some of the hippest clubs up and down the county’s coast, and were joined on stage by the likes of Brian Setzer and Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown. They built a solid following in Europe and the southwestern U.S.
Twenty years later, Blinn has found new life and passion with Black Market III. BMIII, in its two year history, has received two SDMA nominations (Best Blues Band and Best Rock Album), is releasing their second CD, Black Roses, and is getting ready to tour Europe, which marks Blinn’s 13th trip to the continent.
Born in Victorville, which stands on the shoulder of old Route 66 in San Bernardino County, Blinn moved several times around California before settling in San Diego at age 15.
Scottie remembers always being fascinated by the guitar. Growing up in the 1970s, he was surrounded by the country’s ’50s nostalgia and heard “Rock Around the Clock” on the TV show Happy Days at an early age. He received his first acoustic guitar as a birthday present from his parents when he was 13.
Blinn soon bought an electric guitar with money he had saved mowing lawns. He soon learned one of the most important lessons of his musical career. “My guitar teacher asked me why I made a G chord with the first, second, and third finger. He said if you do it like this, second, third, and pinky finger, the change to C is simple! I learned there’s always more than one way to do something and to find the way that works best for me. He also taught me how to play ‘Tush’ by ZZ Top. I was hooked.”
Scottie was raised musically on a combination of a big moving box of his dad’s 45s and Rolling Stones albums, and his mom’s piano. He began accompanying his mom, a trained pianist, in the family living room. These early jam sessions would last throughout Blinn’s teenage years.
Then, MTV went on the air, which provided an eclectic mix of music spanning pop, rock, and R&B. Scottie’s ears, however, honed in on the blusier songs such as those from ZZ Top’s Eliminator and Stevie Ray Vaughan’s “Cold Shot.” He also joined the Columbia Record Club and discovered Judas Priest, Black Sabbath, the Clash, and the Ramones, which all influenced his development and sound. But the blues always spoke loudest.
“After buying the Eliminator tape, I bought The Best of ZZ Top. I quickly heard the difference between the early, raw ZZ Top and the commercial, MTV ZZ Top. The old stuff didn’t sound anything like the new stuff. I started learning about the blues and where it came from, reading articles by Billy Gibbons and the history of blues and rock ’n’ roll.”
While attending Torrey Pines High, Blinn took guitar lessons from Peter Pupping, who introduced him to classical music and sight reading. “Peter is amazing. He turned me on to neoclassical guitarists such as Yngwie Malmsteen and Phil Keaggy.”
Blinn formed his first band, the Wholly Rollers in 1986, with friend Bendan Kremer on drums. The band included older guys like Fred Kokaska on guitar and Brendan’s brother Aaron on bass. A band friend, Patrick Strole, taught him another important musical lesson. “When I couldn’t do a guitar lead at my 16th birthday jam, Pat showed me how to run a pentatonic scale.”
Black Market III (USA), Texas Flood, Nix Blues Night, Enschede, Holland
Grolsch Summer Sounds 2014 open air Nix Blues Night
Scottie 'Mad Dog' Blinn--Guitar/Vocal
Roxy Coverdale--Bass/ vocal
Gavin Glenn--Drums
Scottie 'Mad Dog' Blinn--Guitar/Vocal
Roxy Coverdale--Bass/ vocal
Gavin Glenn--Drums
Ida Goodson *23.11.1909
Ida Goodson (November 23, 1909 – January 5, 2000)[2] was an American classic female blues and jazz singer and pianist.
Biography
Goodson was born in Pensacola, Florida, the youngest of seven sisters, six of whom survived to adulthood. Her father and mother both played the piano.[2] Her father was a deacon at Mount Olive Baptist Church in Pensacola.[1]
All of the daughters in her family received musical training, with the sole intention that they would perform in church.[1] Goodson noted that the blues were banned in her house.[3] However, Ida and her sisters Mabel, Della, Sadie, Edna, and Wilhemina (better as Billie Pierce), all subsequently had careers in blues or jazz.[4] The Preservation Hall Jazz Band often had one of the Goodson sisters playing keyboards. Goodson played the piano accompanying silent films and at dances.[1]
The Florida Folk Archive released a recording made at the Florida Folk Festival in 1980, containing a duet between Ida and Sadie Goodson. Ida Goodson received a Florida Folk Heritage Award in 1987.[2][4]
A 2002 stage show, The Goodson Sisters: Pensacola's Greatest Gift to Jazz, focused on Ida, Wilhemia, and Sadie Goodson. The PBS video Wild Women Don't Have the Blues includes rare footage of Bessie Smith and her one-time accompanist, Goodson. The music journalist Chris Heim wrote in the Chicago Tribune that "Sprightly blues and gospel performer Ida Goodson—the scene stealer of the film—gives a stunning exhibition of the intimate connection between gospel and blues when she takes the song "Precious Lord" from a rich, slow gospel opening to a rollicking boogie-woogie conclusion."[5]
In her senior years, Goodson played the organ at several churches in Pensacola.[1][4] The album Ida Goodson: Pensacola Piano—Florida Gulf Blues, Jazz, and Gospel was released by the Florida Folklife Program.
Biography
Goodson was born in Pensacola, Florida, the youngest of seven sisters, six of whom survived to adulthood. Her father and mother both played the piano.[2] Her father was a deacon at Mount Olive Baptist Church in Pensacola.[1]
All of the daughters in her family received musical training, with the sole intention that they would perform in church.[1] Goodson noted that the blues were banned in her house.[3] However, Ida and her sisters Mabel, Della, Sadie, Edna, and Wilhemina (better as Billie Pierce), all subsequently had careers in blues or jazz.[4] The Preservation Hall Jazz Band often had one of the Goodson sisters playing keyboards. Goodson played the piano accompanying silent films and at dances.[1]
The Florida Folk Archive released a recording made at the Florida Folk Festival in 1980, containing a duet between Ida and Sadie Goodson. Ida Goodson received a Florida Folk Heritage Award in 1987.[2][4]
A 2002 stage show, The Goodson Sisters: Pensacola's Greatest Gift to Jazz, focused on Ida, Wilhemia, and Sadie Goodson. The PBS video Wild Women Don't Have the Blues includes rare footage of Bessie Smith and her one-time accompanist, Goodson. The music journalist Chris Heim wrote in the Chicago Tribune that "Sprightly blues and gospel performer Ida Goodson—the scene stealer of the film—gives a stunning exhibition of the intimate connection between gospel and blues when she takes the song "Precious Lord" from a rich, slow gospel opening to a rollicking boogie-woogie conclusion."[5]
In her senior years, Goodson played the organ at several churches in Pensacola.[1][4] The album Ida Goodson: Pensacola Piano—Florida Gulf Blues, Jazz, and Gospel was released by the Florida Folklife Program.
R.I.P.
Robert Lucas +23.11.2008
Der Anlass Blues&Wine stand wieder ganz im Zeichen der Bluesmusik auf höchstem Niveau und der hier verwurzelten Weine. Am 27.Januar 2007 war es soweit und Andy Egert Blues Band brachte zusammen mit Robert Lucas unsere Mehrzweckhalle zum Kochen. Das zahlreich erscheinte Publikum wurde mit ein paar Stücken von Andy „unplugged“ begrüsst, bis dann nach und nach die ganze Band, zuletzt Robert Lucas auf die Bühne trat. Der unverwechselbare Groove dieser Musiker begeisterte das Publikum und manch einer bekam eine Gänsehaut, diese Musik ging wahrlich unter die Haut.
Wer kennt sie nicht, die legendäre Sixties-Band Canned Heat mit Hits wie "On the Road again, Going up the Country" (die Woodstock-Hymne schlechthin) oder natürlich "Lets Work Together"?
Robert Lucas war seit 1995 der aktuelle Frontman dieser Kult-Band Canned Heat. Lucas, der Sänger, Gitarrist und Mundharmonikaspieler aus Kalifornien war ein echtes Blues-Phänomen. Im Januar 2009 ist Robert Lucas leider und plötzlich in seiner Heimat verstorben.
Weinbauern FläschDer einheimische Sänger, Gitarrist und Mundharmonika-Spieler Andy Egert aus Mels ist aus der Bluesmusikszene der Schweiz nicht mehr wegzudenken. Immer mehr ist Egert auch im Ausland zu hören, wo er sich in den letzten Jahren ebenfalls eine feste Fangemeinde erspielt hat.
Bandbesetzung:
Robert Lucas – Gesang, Slide-Gitarre, Mundharmonika
West Coast vocalist, guitarist, and songwriter Robert Lucas forged a path for himself in the blues world after the release of his much-hailed 1990 self-produced debut cassette, Across the River. Based in Long Beach, CA, as a solo artist Lucas recorded for the Audioquest label out of San Clemente. He was also a member of the legendary boogie blues band Canned Heat, singing and playing bottleneck guitar and harmonica with the group off and on starting in 1994.
Lucas was born into a middle-class family in Long Beach and was 14 or 15 when he started getting seriously into blues-rock. He had started to play guitar then, inspired by Jimi Hendrix, but gave up on it, concluding his hands were too small. He started playing harmonica instead, listening to recordings by John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers before going back to source material, including the recordings of Little Walter Jacobs, Sonny Boy Williamson, George "Harmonica" Smith, Snooky Pryor, and James Cotton. Lucas began playing the National Steel guitar at 17 when a co-worker at the Long Beach Arena sold him the instrument. Lucas hooked up with guitarist Bernie Pearl and began taking lessons from him. After joining Pearl's band as a harmonica player, he got to play behind the likes of Big Joe Turner, George Smith, Pee Wee Creighton, Lowell Fulson, Eddie "Cleanhead" Vinson, Percy Mayfield, and other West Coast bluesmen. He carefully honed his singing and playing, with Pearl's band and on his own, for several years before forming Luke & the Locomotives in 1986.
Lucas' career as a national touring act was launched when his Across the River tape got a rave review in a Los Angeles newspaper. As a result, one of the Audioquest warehouse workers came to see him at a Los Angeles sushi bar. The employee called the company president, who came to hear Lucas that same night. Lucas was a multi-talented harmonica player, guitarist, singer, and songwriter who could do it all: on one recording for Audioquest, Usin' Man Blues, he played solo, and on another, Luke and the Locomotives, he performed with his band. The sound on all of his albums is raw and gritty, with just a few originals on each album. Classic blues fare like Sonny Boy Williamson's "Good Morning Little Schoolgirl" and John Lee Hooker's "Meet Me in the Bottom" were given new life with Lucas' talented hands and vocal chops.
Lucas paid homage to traditional blues but also carefully crafted his own singing and slide guitar style. These talents are on ample display on his Audioquest albums, including Luke and the Locomotives, Usin' Man Blues, Built for Comfort, Layaway, and Completely Blue, all released during the '90s, as well as latter-day Canned Heat albums on the Ruf and Fuel 2000 labels. Robert Lucas died of a drug overdose in Long Beach on November 23, 2008.
Robert Lucas w/ Tim Brisson Band
Canned Heat live w. Robert Lucas in Prague 2006
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