Pat Blythe – The Women of Blues Revisited – Part IV – Maggie & Janis

I have “moved” Janis Joplin from my Women in Rock series to this one. When I started the “Women of ……” series, I felt she had a foot in both camps. However, the more I listen to Joplin the more I realize her feet were far more firmly planted in the blues as her voice alone attests. There have been comparisons over the years between Maggie Bell and Janis Joplin. They are reminiscent of each other and that starts with the hair. Scotland is steeped in the blues (just listen to the pipes and some of the Celtic music) but the seeds were planted, and the roots run to the core of the earth, in the U.S.’s “deep south”. Keep in mind, much of the southern U.S. became home to the Scots fleeing the oppressive English in the late 1700’s. Combine that with the African “slave” songs….mix with oppressive heat and stir….so, sometimes I wonder, who exactly influenced whom?

Frank Gutch Jr: My Music Bubbleth Under

It should be no secret by now that when it comes to music I am drawn to the non-hits, the non-charters, and the obscure.  Some of the most beloved music of my past have consisted of  artists and songs only the most avant of the garde have treasured— the Little John & The Monks and the Cargoes and, until their fairly recent deification, the Big Stars.  It started innocently enough— the placement of Jimmy Bowen‘s By the Light of the Silv’ry Moon on radio station KEX‘s Barney Keep‘s playlist, but it was enough.

Pat Blythe: The Women of Blues Part Four – Maggie Bell

Pat Blythe continues her series The Women of Blues with this fourth installment on a Legendary Scottish singer….

JAIMIE VERNON – A PIECE OF THE ROCK

The demise of Rock And Roll has been greatly exaggerated by the likes of Gene ‘I don’t know how to work an iPad‘ Simmons. That’s not to say we shouldn’t have it on suicide watch and coax it back from the ledge where its been hanging by its finger tips since Axel Rose delivered ‘Chinese Grafitti‘ and not ‘Appetite For Destruction 2‘.