Blues Talk

Bo Diddley remains one of the most entertaining, if not most important R&B or rock players in the history of recorded music. The reason for skirting his being ridiculously important (even though he clearly was and is) stems from the huge number of players springing from the late forties and fifties that sought to work in the same aural terrain as Diddley. Of course, no one else has a beat named after him. So, there’s that.

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Rev. Gary Davis

Manchester Free Trade Hall, 1964

(Document Records, 2007)

When blues moved to urban areas, like Chicago, the focus became blues shouters or those that simply hollered. Well, the Reverend is not from the city, but in stark contrast to Skip James, Davis possessed a guttural grunt that could very probably not be replicated. Through his catalog, as he aged, listeners can hear how his voice progressively became more and more intimidating and gruff. Although on later sides, as on the Biograph ’71 releases, Davis seems almost dazed and out of touch with his art. The Manchester show provides us with a glimpse into the Reverend’s powers shortly after his re-emergence from obscurity.

Firstly, it must be noted that the recording itself is of a higher quality than might be expected. And while, surely, it’s not perfect – it’s relatively clean, in a dusty blues sorta way. Davis’ sets were able to run from overtly religious in tone to irrefutably secular. Here though, listeners aren’t offered the charming religiously flavored tunes, but instead the recording begins with a song that the Stones as well as Fred McDowell played, “You Got to Move”. While not the strongest version put to disc, it’s strong enough not to obviously point to the aging of a master.

The guitar and vocal powers of this original purveyor of blues do show ware occasionally as on “Cocaine Blues”. But given the subject matter, it seems oddly befitting. There are a few instrumental tracks that serve to further illustrate Davis’ age – but really even at this point of his life, the Reverend’s stronger than countless rockers who ape his cool that it doesn’t really matter. Included amongst these instrumentals, and the closer to this set, is a Scott Joplin number, “Maple Leaf Rag”. It’s a charming and stately way to close an evening, while a flaw or two is apparent,

again, it’s the Reverend, so it really doesn’t matter.

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Ramblin' Thomas is the picture of blues player’s biographies. He was raised in the deep south, the board of Louisana and Texas to be exact, he came from a large and musically inclined family and subsequently rambled around the country. Well, that last part seems to be disputed even given the man’s nick name. But the guitarist and sibling to the better known Jesse ‘Babyface’ Thomas apparently performed in and around some southern states. “Lock And Key Blues” even opens with the lines “I feel like ramblin’/Ramblin’ stays on my mind/I ain’t satisfied unless I’m ramblin’ all the time.”

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There're two folks singing on this track, which fits into a long lyrical tradition of detailing the perils of gambling. The guitar work's a bit down in the mix, but either way, it's a pretty decent exemplar of how the blues should sound...