A couple of weeks ago, a few days before the Grammy® Awards show earlier this month, The Tennessean newspaper in Nashville published a great story about an unlikely award winner. Music writer Peter Cooper wrote about blues musician Cortelia Clark, who unexpectedly won a folk music Grammy in 1967 for his Blues In The Street album. Recorded, literally, on the sidewalk in front of Nashville's beloved Pancake Pantry restaurant and released by RCA Records, the album is the only document of the popular blind street musician's unique style of blues.
Clark's album would beat out releases from better-known folkies like Leadbelly, Pete Seeger, and Peter, Paul & Mary to win the Grammy®, in spite of the fact that Blues In The Street sold less than 1,000 copies. As for Clark, he would continue playing on the street near the historic Ryman Auditorium, selling bags to downtown shoppers, until his death in 1969 from a house fire. Clark would later be immortalized in song by songwriter Mickey Newbury, whose "Cortelia Clark" would also be recorded by the Kingston Trio and Josh White, Jr. Blues In The Street, reissued in 2004 by Collectors' Choice Music, seems to be out of print at this time, but copies can be found if you look around online.
Artist, illustrator, and musician Robert Crumb came into notoriety during the 1960s as an underground cartoonist and one of the creative forces behind Zap Comix. In recent years he's become somewhat of a cultural cult hero, and it's no secret that the acclaimed artist is a big fan of old-time music, especially blues and jazz. The Reverend has reviewed two of Crumb's collections of music-oriented artwork - Crumb's The Complete Album Cover Collection and his Heroes of Blues, Jazz & Country books - and I think that a lot of readers would find them of interest as well. We've been pretty busy behind the scenes here at About.com Blues the past couple of weeks, as well, posting several items that didn't make the front page, including profiles of British blues-rock pioneers Free and contemporary blues guitar hero Joe Louis Walker.
The Reverend also reviewed Walker's Hellfire album, a career milestone by any measure, and took another long look at the often-maligned The London Howlin' Wolf Sessions album, decreeing it a minor classic. Guest Author Steve Pick also recently reviewed the Heritage Blues Orchestra's And Still I Rise, the debut album from a talented outfit, while the Rev rediscovered the Outlaw Blues Band's two 1960s-era albums. Enjoy!
Photo courtesy Abrams Comicarts
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