MICHAEL MESSER - Write Me A Few Short Lines

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Michael Messer
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Write Me A Few Short Lines
« Thread Started on Aug 9, 2012, 2:20pm »

I wrote this article a few months ago for a blues magazine, but following on from the Fred McDowell thread on Music Row, I thought I would post it on here....

ʻWrite Me A Few Short Linesʼ - the story of Blues Slide Guitar in Britain by Michael Messer (copyright Michael Messer - January 2012)

For this article about blues slide ʻbottleneckʼ guitar, I am trying to uncover the story of blues slide guitar in Britain. The research I am currently doing on the history of British blues slide guitar is not yet complete, and so this article is a work in progress.....

It is very hard to trace the exact first moment that blues slide guitar was played by a British musician. There is a story that Brian Jones of the Rolling Stones was playing blues slide guitar in the late 1950s in Cheltenham, which if the theory that nobody played blues slide guitar in this country before the late 50s is true, puts him as one of the first, or ʻtheʼ first blues slide guitarist in Britain. The other contenders as the first people to be playing blues slide guitar in Britain, are Alexis Korner, Brian Knight, and possibly Jeff Beck. (At the time of writing this, I have no information about Jeff Beck, other than apparently he was playing slide in a band called the Tridents in 62/63).

Hawaiian steel guitar was very popular in Britain in the 1930s, 40s and 50s, but apart from Sam Mitchell, whose father, Sammy Mitchell, played Hawaiian guitar with Felix Mendelssohnʼs Hawaiian Serenaders, and Mike Cooper, who learnt some Hawaiian guitar from an American living in his hometown, Reading, I donʼt think there is much of a connection between British blues slide guitar and Hawaiian steel guitar. That is not the case in the USA, where Hawaiian steel guitar and blues slide guitar were very closely connected, as was discussed in depth in my first article of this series.

In this article I am going to focus on a handful of people who I believe were the British pioneers of playing blues slide guitar, but before I do that I am going to talk about three African-American blues slide players, Muddy Waters, Son House and Mississippi Fred McDowell, who visited these shores and influenced some of our most important musicians. Of these three, Muddy Waters was the first to play in Britain. He toured in 1958 with Chris Barberʼs Jazz Band and in the tour programme, which in those days featured a set list, songs played with electric slide guitar included: Honey Bee, Long Distance Call, I Canʼt Be Satisfied and Louisiana blues. This is a very important moment in the history of British blues and in the history of British blues slide guitar playing.

It is documented that two of the people I believe to be Britainʼs first blues slide guitarists, Alexis Korner and Brian Knight, saw Muddy Waters on that tour. They were certainly among the first wave of British blues musicians playing in the Muddy Waters style. While Alexis Korner did play a few slide licks using a ring (possibly his wedding ring) as a slide, it is not known exactly when he was first doing that. Many people seem to think it was early 60s, but Ron Gould (musician and authority on Skiffle in Britain) told me that he remembers seeing Alexis playing slide guitar at the Roundhouse in London in the ʻlatishʼ 1950s. Although Alexis Korner was not primarily known as a slide player, it is possible that he was the first person playing blues slide guitar in Britain. Alexis Korner was born in 1928, and is often referred to as the founding father of British blues. His legendary career has been documented extensively elsewhere. Alexis Korner died in 1984.

It is still not known which of the two Brians came first to blues slide guitar, Brian Knight or Brian Jones, but I do know that Brian Jones was playing slide guitar in London in 1962. Alexis Korner, Brian Jones and Brian Knight, are no longer with us and it is proving very difficult to research this particular area, which is so important to the story of British blues slide guitar.

Brian Knight was born in North London in 1940 and may well have been the first blues slide guitarist in Britain. In 1955 Brian Knight joined the merchant navy and spent two years in the USA. He returned to London in 1957 and played his first gig in that same year in Southall at the White Hart pub. Brian Knight was a friend of Alexis Korner and Cyril Davies, and in 1958 at their club, The Blues & Barrelhouse Club in London, Brian Knight saw Muddy Waters play. In the early 1960s Brian Knight met Brian Jones and they formed a band together with Ian Stewart on piano, Dick Taylor on bass, and Geoff Bradford on guitar. At that time Brian Jones, who was born in Cheltenham in 1942, favoured Bo Diddley and Chuck Berry, and Brian Knight was a Muddy Waters disciple, and as often happens with musical differences....the band split up and the two musicians went their separate ways. Brian Jones formed the Rolling Stones with Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, and Brian Knight formed Blues By Six, with Charlie Watts on drums. Blues By Six were popular and had two London residencies, one at at the 100 Club and one at the Marquee, where they were often supported by the Rolling Stones. Even if Brian Knight wasnʼt the first, he is very important because he influenced some of our greatest guitarists. Among others, Ronnie Wood, Peter Green and Eric Clapton have all mentioned Brian Knight as an early influence. Brian Jones died in 1970, and Brian Knight died in 2001.

On the acoustic blues scene, all the early British players seem to stem from a blues slide guitar family tree which was started by Mississippi Fred McDowell, Son House and British musician, Tony McPhee. Fred McDowell first toured Britain in 1965, and Son House first toured here in 1967, and it was their slide playing, more than anyone elseʼs, that had such an impact on the British acoustic blues and folk musicians. Fred McDowell left an indelible impression on the people who played and spent time with him. He is still remembered by the British musicians who knew him, as a charming man and the greatest blues slide guitarist of all. Son House also left his mark on these shores and his slide guitar playing, his performance style, and his shiny National guitar, made an impression on British musicians that will last for generations. Mississippi Fred McDowell and Son Houseʼs intensity and deep old-style delta blues slide playing was so influential in Britain that it would take a whole chapter of a book to really investigate and talk about properly.

As far as I can tell at the time of writing this article, Tony McPhee was the first British musician specializing in the acoustic slide repertoire of people like Robert Johnson, Fred McDowell and Son House, and it is from Tony McPhee that two of our earliest and most influential acoustic blues slide players, Jo Ann Kelly and Dave Kelly, were introduced to playing blues slide guitar.
Tony McPhee was born in 1944, and inspired by seeing the Cyril Davies All-stars at the Marquee in London, started playing blues in the early 60s and formed his band, the Groundhogs in 1963. Tony learnt about open G tuning from working with John Lee Hooker in 1962 and figured out the slide part for himself. Tony first heard delta blues slide guitar in 1959 on the Alan Lomax record ʻBlues Roll Onʼ. The song he heard on that record was Missʼippi Fred McDowell singing ʻWrite Me A Few Short Linesʼ. It was not until he met John Lee Hooker that he understood about open tunings, which led to him learning to play slide. Tony McPhee is a major figure in the history of British blues slide guitar and although in 2009 he had a stroke, he is still playing regularly.

Dave Kelly was born in Streatham in 1947 and has consistently been at the forefront of the British & European blues scene since the mid 1960s. The first slide player that Dave recalls seeing was Brian Jones in London in 1962. Then in 1963 from reading the sleeve notes on The Freewheelinʻ Bob Dylan album, he tried to play slide guitar like Dylan did with a lipstick tube, but according to Dave...ʼit didnʼt workʼ. Dave Kelly met Tony McPhee in 1963 and it was from Tony that Dave Kelly says he learnt to play blues slide guitar. Jo Ann and Dave Kelly were very influential among the early British acoustic blues players, and more than anyone else, Dave Kellyʼs name is mentioned as an early slide guitar influence on the acoustic blues scene of the time. Jo Ann Kelly died in 1990. Dave Kelly currently plays in the Blues Band, Paul Jones & Dave Kelly, Maggie Bell & Dave Kelly, and as a solo artist. For almost fifty years, Dave Kellyʼs superb acoustic and electric slide playing has influenced countless British and European blues guitarists.

Ian Anderson was born in 1947. He started playing blues guitar in his teens after hearing a Muddy Waters EP, and was inspired to play in public by seeing Spider John Koerner perform. In 1965, Ian saw Mississippi Fred McDowell play at the Colston Hall in Bristol, and with no assistance or knowledge of other players doing it, he went home, cut a piece off his brass curtain rail and stayed up all night trying to play delta blues slide guitar and work out open tunings. From 1965 into the late 70s, Ian Anderson was a prominent figure on the British and European acoustic blues and folk scene, and through his live performances and recordings, he has turned many people on to playing acoustic blues slide guitar. In 1979 Ian Anderson started the magazine, Southern Rag, which later became Folk Roots, and is now called fRoots. Ian Anderson is still playing blues slide guitar, but very rarely performs in public.

Mike Cooper was born in 1942, started playing guitar in 1958 and formed his first blues band in 1962. By 1965 Mike Cooper, as a solo artist, was becoming a well known name in the folk and blues clubs and from all accounts appears to have started playing blues slide guitar on his National Triplate in 1966/67. When I met Mike Cooper in 1983 I had been playing acoustic blues slide on National guitars for six years and our similar taste in guitars, blues, repertoire, and approach to playing slide guitar, led to us working together on various tours and projects through the 1980s and early 1990s. In 1984 I made my recording debut on the Mike Cooper and Ian Anderson album called ʻThe Continuous Preaching Bluesʼ, which was produced by Dave Peabody. Mike Cooperʼs blues slide playing is influenced by among others: Fred McDowell, Son House, Jo Ann Kelly and Dave Kelly. Mike Cooper is still performing, recording and playing slide guitar. He plays mostly lap steel in an avant-garde style, but still incorporates his knowledge of blues slide guitar into his music.

Sam Mitchell was born in Liverpool in 1950, his father, Sammy Mitchell, played Hawaiian guitar with Felix Mendelssohnʼs Hawaiian Serenaders, and at some point in his early teens, mostly inspired by hearing Robert Johnson records, Sam taught himself to play acoustic blues, ragtime, and blues slide guitar. He played around the Liverpool folk clubs for a while and then at seventeen years old moved to Brighton where he shared a flat with another great British blues musician and slide guitarist, Roger Hubbard. Roger recalls that when he met Sam in 1967 he was already a brilliant player with an amazing technique and knowledge of pre-war blues. Sam Mitchell moved to London in 68/69 and met up with Rod Stewart and Long John Baldry. There are various stories about Samʼs involvement with Rod Stewartʼs solo albums, Gasoline Alley and Every Picture Tells A Story; according to Roger Hubbard (a close friend of Samʼs at the time), Sam played the beautiful solo acoustic slide piece, Amazing Grace, on Every Picture Tells A Story, and that was his only contribution to those records. According to the Faces official website, Sam Mitchell played guitar on Gasoline Alley, and guitar and slide guitar on Every Picture Tells A Story. Sam Mitchell was an incredible musician and his blues slide guitar playing, through his involvement with Stefan Grossmanʼs Kicking Mule record label and guitar tuition books in the 1970s, has influenced countless students of slide guitar ever since. Sam Mitchell died in 2006.

Jeremy Spencer was born in 1948 and was the slide guitarist in the original Fleetwood Mac. His covers of Elmore James and his own songs written in the Elmore James style, that appeared on the first Fleetwood Mac album in 1968 are very important, and as well as turning the world on to Elmore James, Jeremyʼs electric slide playing influenced guitarists in Britain and all over the world. Jeremy Spencer taught himself to play slide guitar in the mid 60s. He had no knowledge of open tunings or what made the sliding sound, but with trial and error and a lot of dedication, he discovered open D tuning, got himself fixed up with a slide and worked out pretty much note for note most of Elmoreʼs repertoire. Jeremy Spencer is still playing slide guitar. Just type ʻJeremy Spencer - It Hurts Me Tooʼ into YouTube to see and hear Jeremyʼs wonderful tone and touch.

Another person I should mention in this history and continuing story of British blues slide guitar, is Seasick Steve. Steve is an American, but he has become very much a part of the British music scene, and through his appearances on British TV and at rock festivals, playing blues slide on diddley-bows, cigar box guitars, electric guitars, and a 1930s National Triolian, Seasick Steve has turned a whole new generation of teenagers on to blues slide guitar.

Slide guitar has played an important part in the story of British blues. I have to wind up by listing some British players who have contributed to the world of British blues slide guitar, that I have not been able to include in this article: Roger Hubbard, Graham Hine, Gordon Smith, Eric Clapton, Rory Gallagher, Martin Simpson, Chris Rea, Steve Phillips (with whom I recently spent time with at Blues Week and learnt that he too was an early British blues slide player....more to follow on Steve's slide playing).

I believe this is the first time anyone has attempted to document the history of blues slide guitar in Britain and I will be writing more on this subject over the next few months. I have tried to get the facts correct and put the story into some kind of chronological order, but it will take a lot of research to get all the dates correct and get everything in place. It is as I said in the opening paragraph - a work in progress, and if anybody reading this can provide any information about those early days of British blues slide guitar playing, or has any other information that would help me with this research, I would be very interested to hear from you.

Shine On
Michael Messer

« Last Edit: Aug 9, 2012, 8:28pm by Michael Messer »