Post by Michael Messer on Jun 7, 2023 8:52:53 GMT
I am very sad to hear that the great Tony McPhee has died, he was 79. Tony was such a lovely person and a great talent.
I knew Tony and in the early days I learnt a lot from him. In 1973 on BBC's Old Grey Whistle Test, Tony was the first person I ever saw playing Fred McDowell's music. He played Write Me A Few Of Your Lines and blew my socks off! Prior to that in 1971, along with his band "Groundhogs" he released his definitive rock blues album "Split" with the classic song Cherry Red, which looking back on it 52 years later, was a masterpiece.
I first met Tony sometime in the late 80s when he rushed up to me after one of my gigs to let me know that he thought my playing, especially of Fred McDowell and Son House's music was among the best he'd heard. A few years later I played at a benefit concert for Tony after he had been ill and needed some help. Then a few years on from that I did a show with Tony and Dave Kelly, which I think was at Lincoln Castle. We did a set each and then did a set together, which was a lot of fun, especially for me playing with two of my mentors.
Tony McPhee was a very important person in the history of British blues. Apart from Alexis Koerner, Cyril Davies, Brian Jones and one or two others, Tony was one of the first people playing acoustic blues in the UK. He was also, along with Jeff Beck, lexis Koerner and Brian Jones, one of the first playing blues slide guitar here. Tony was Jo Ann and Dave Kelly's mentor and in many ways paved the way for all of us that play blues in this country.
Here is something I wrote for an article about slide guitar a few years ago. Before writing this I spoke with Tony to get my facts correct...
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 else’s, 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 House’s 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 ‘Blues Roll On’. The song he heard on that record was Miss’ippi Fred McDowell singing ‘Write Me A Few Short Lines’. 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.
I could write a lot more about Tony McPhee, but for the time being I will stop here.
Tony McPhee >RIP
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Shine On
Michael
