Sunday Sermonette

...and now a word from Sister Rosetta Tharpe (and a choir!), performing her iconic song Just Above My Head.  Be blessed!

Happy Sunday!

This song -- Blind Willie Johnson's God Don't Never Change -- was one that I'd sing a lot when I first came to New York City.  Now I'm relearning it and incorporating it into what's next.

More and more, I'm embracing the sounds of my childhood. I can't even begin to imagine where this will end up but I'm enjoying the sonic regression.

freddy king -- "goin' down"

i know that september 3rd is "freddie king day" in texas, but i thought i'd start celebrating early.



anyone that says aside from jimi hendrix and vernon reid, black rock guitarists don't really exist isn't paying attention. freddie king died way too soon. maybe if he'd lived through the 80s, more people would know who he is.

i absolutely drop-dead love this song. it's so heavy and righteous and free, in all the right ways. after listening to freddie king play guitar all afternoon, it's hard to take in the fluff that passes for rock and roll these days -- even if it's on somebody else's radio.

rare jimi

everybody's got their favorite jimi. there's jimi with the perm and the ruffled shirts, fresh from london, humping his guitar when he solos and lighting it on fire and all that rot. and then there's jimi as black hippie with the headband around his afro, all tight pants and empassioned bravado. jimi -- always a mesmerizing visage regardless of which one you're casually observing.

this is my favorite jimi: steeped in the blues, blacker than thou, doing funky dance steps in a hard-touring chitlin circuit r&b outfit. (too bad there's no footage with him when he was with little richard...) i love this jimi especially because so many seem to have forgotten how bluesy he was, how close he was to those roots.

this is the oldest known film clip of jimi, in a live performance of the song shotgun with junior walker and the all stars. you can't miss him. he's in the back on the left, totally in step with his upside-down backwards guitar.