Old Black Mattie

So...for all those folks who missed the Deep Blues Fest this year, this is what you missed, a stunning throwdown between The Ten Foot Polecats, The Scissormen, and Molly Gene.

Oh, damn, this was transcendental....from the tribal drum break, to the guitar god-head, to the vocal George and Tammy back and forth of Jay and Molly Gene...

Every band was amazing, so it's hard to pick a winner.  We think this video makes it's own case.

Got-damn, this is rock'n'roll!

More on Molly Gene soon... oh, hell yeah!

Keep Ta Boogie

Well, if it's Thursday, it must be Deep Blues Thursday, where we strip away the glossy sheen and wankery of soccer mom blues and give you a shot of hot swamp-stringed, mud-crusted Blues goodness.

As ever, this wouldn't exist without the loving hand of The Deep Blues Festival. Keep yr ears and eyes peeled for more info on that venture.

Today we've got the legendary Illinois John Fever. Why legendary? Well that's for you to determine when you check out the interview and tunes to follow. Oh, and they played with a feller you all know and love in a moment us non-Mississippians will rarely if ever experience again. Read on for more info on that.



Illinois John Fever play a kickin'n'stompin' brand of Hill Country Blues, all rhythm and loose-string, dead fish thwacked trap kit howl, whiskey soaked and soul saturated. We really dug these cats in the two instances we got to check 'out. They're a band you're gonna hear more about in the coming days, guaranteed.

So.

Is there really a guy named Illinois John Fever? Can a man walk a crossroads without eating with a fork? What does Pussy Galore have to do with all this? Read on, dear reader, read on.


1. First off, tell us about yourselves. Who are you?

Lute Tucker and Bobber Hall started playing together in August of ’06 and brought Dustin Busch in last February. We play pre-electric/post-punk blues but playing all-acoustic is what sonically sets us apart from most acts, blues or otherwise. You could call it apocalypse blues, given its perverse meditations, but as for the mythology...well, we’ll let John get to that in a minute.


2. At the Deep Blues Festival, you were part of an iconic moment, providing guitar backing and rhythmic flourishes to an impromptu performance by T-Model Ford. Tell us about that moment. How did it come to pass?

It's easier bringing the music to the people than it is bringing the people out to the music. We also recognize the roots of this music come from casual settings—from the field, the porch, the afternoon picnic, from the tobacco barn, the living room, the street, etc.—and the importance of experiencing the music that way removes the imaginary line between performers and observers, encouraging the spontaneity of the moment for everybody. So we work hard staying versatile, playing everywhere between the club and the couch, and we came to Deep Blues ready to play as often as we could, wherever we were. That said, the first night was winding down and we'd grabbed our gear to busk in front of the Cabooze, but the manager put us in the beer garden instead. As for T-Model coming to check us out and then asking for a guitar, we were just doing our thing in the right place at the right time, and we're grateful he took us along for the ride. And there's a whole line of people to thank for setting that all up, starting with Chris Johnson. In a larger context, we all experience the inevitability of tradition—that the torches will pass onto those willing to bear them—and that this is really what Chris set into motion by creating the Deep Blues Festival, and in bring all of us together. That man is making history-in-action, you just watch.


3. You're based out of Iowa City. Whence comes the name "Illinois" John Fever. Who is John Fever? Are you feeling ill?

For the record, none of us goes by John Fever. He’s an archetype, a spirit conjured up. His real name is John McKinney, and we make space for him the way some folks set a place for Elijah, which is an appropriate comparison. As for the ILLINOIS, Lute Tucker earned that growing up in Chicago. But we use it in the tradition of setting bluesmen apart—not through personal nicknames but as regionally distinguished remarks in recording catalogs. So in his full suit, ILLINOIS JOHN FEVER reminds us that we aren’t authors of anything, that we are just transmitters of certain ideas, mere observers of the music.


4. Where do you draw inspiration? Who are your influences?

Scenes of carnage and fiery revolt are a good place to start. Severed fingers marked with voters’ ink. We celebrate just about anyone righteously standing up in the face of violence. We embrace the totality of the world despite being infinite souls trapped in limited bodies. We listen to a lot of Fred McDowell, Booker White, and Willie McTell, but we’ll listen to everything. This very moment, it’s the Pussy River Bawlers. We like John Jackson and stuff out of Virginia, and Georgia. “Monologue on Accidents” is a vibrant recording of John Lomax grilling Willie McTell on whether he’s ever recorded any “complaining songs.” At Parchman Farm, Lomax’s son Alan recorded D.W. ’Bama Stuart singing “I’m Going Home.” We’re struck by these. But we also love Funkadelic, Royal Trux, Violent Femmes, Big Black, and any afrofunk. Lute Tucker suggests everybody read anything by Chester Himes. Our favorite movie is REPO MAN, and we think sushi is delicious.


5. You're all relatively young, at least so far as Blues musicians go. Some would argue that you have to have lived a "full" life, whatever that means, to really understand the Blues. Do you feel that this is true, or do you find a universal in the form that can appeal along a broad spectrum of ages and experience?

Understanding the blues is about understanding human emotion. And it’s not so much having experienced one thing or another, but how you respond to the world as it presents itself. With the blues, this becomes personal expression. There’s other details—technical proficiency, adept lyrics, bad-ass street cred. But as with most matters of survival, the ability to respond to the on-going situation is most important. Playing live therefore becomes a living metaphor, and we can appreciate that as well as anybody.


6. How did you come to be involved in the Deep Blues Festival? What are your fondest memories of the Fest?

Friends attended the first year and we were lucky that Chris Johnson asked us to play the next. But we were especially happy returning in 2009—the deal with T-Model was a total cosmic fluke and it set us up for the best weekend of our lives. The highlight was playing outside the hotel Saturday night, jumping into a great big river of sound with seven-plus guitars, one dobro, multiple percussionists, multiple folks blowing harp, an old National getting played, and then Gabe wandering up barefoot and in his jammies, stomping clapping and hollering. Folks came from all over the world to engage in that moment, and that exchange of ideas is an important part of the music we appreciate and play.


7. What kind of audience do you hope to draw? What will it take to bring your brand of Blues to the masses?

Hippies with trust funds. As for the masses, David Geffen would have to put the $15-million on that horse.


8. What is the band's drink of choice?

In order of volumes consumed: water, coffee, PBR, any proper whiskey.


9. How many roads must a man walk down? And which roads should he take? Is there really a crossroads, or is it just a fork in the road?

There are as many crossroads as you are able to recognize. Our only problem on the road is our inability to recognize the multiplicity of the crossroads.


10. What's next for Illinois John Fever? Record? Tour? Pimp yourselves here.

We’ve always been writing new songs, and adding Dustin to our lineup has only increased that potential. And while the plan had been to record our first album, we’ve mostly been working on the new material. So that’s the new plan: write more songs, record more songs. But most important we’d like to keep making connections with like-minded folks supporting the kind of music we enjoy. You are a good example of such folks, and thanks for having us aboard.




The following tunes are from their cd "Our Own Pirated Idaho", which you can beg or plead for from the band at their website.

Illinois John Fever: Keep Ta Boogie If Ye Like (mp3)

Illinois John Fever: West Coast Blues (mp3)

Illinois John Fever: Wonderland Boogie (mp3)

Support your local rawk, man. It's better than a stadium.

Mule Kicker

A Bloody Ol' Mule Interview!!!!

Welcome to our first Deep Blues Thursday. We'll be having interviews and overviews with some of our favorite artists in the Deep Blues tradition. Check out the end of the post for a special offer, and some swell tunes.

Our first featured artist is a feller what goes by the name of Bloody Ol' Mule. Real name's Shilo, and he was one of our favorite finds at the Deep Blues Festival, his two performances keeping us riveted and awed with awe at his brilliance.

Bloody Ol' Mule's a big man, with a bigger voice, and a stage presence built to beat the devil at his own game, brimstone fried salvation between the bottle and the deep dark pit. That voice, a hiccuped, dustbowl twang suddenly possessed by the ghost of Howling Wolf, is a thing of hellish beauty.

And, oh bloody hell, what he does to his guitar is probably illegal in a least 48 states, a shredding, rhythmic honky blues holler, heading southbound to the end of the line, speeding like a hound on fire.

Lyrically, Bloody Ol' Mule covers all the things we love: God and Satan, booze, love'n'hate, loneliness and lust, sex and salvation, more booze. Even a touch of truckin'. He's a master of the turned Country'n'Blues phrase, and throws off lines of poetry couched in the language of the common man. That's a fuckin' compliment that we usually reserve for old Hank Williams.

But don't take our word for all this. Shilo (Bloody Ol' Mule hisself) was kind enough to grant us an interview. So without further slobbering on our part...

The Bloody Ol' Mule Interview (in which we learn many things)

1. First off, give us your generic origin story. Where do you come from? Why are you? Feel free at this point to give the god's honest truth or create your own mythology.


I come from Grady County, Oklahoma, just a little west of Norman, Oklahoma. I live on 10 acres of land nestled somewhat in between a valley. It is the same land that I’ve been on and off of since I was about 5 or 6 years old. I don’t live in nothing really fancy, just a trailer house.


2. Where is Hell's Fringe Oklahoma?


To some of the locals of where I live, we still call this Hell’s Fringe, a name given to the area by the rangers and lawmen back in the 1800’s when outlaws came to Hell’s Fringe to hide out and such. The law never did like going into Hell’s Fringe, and preferred to just stay away, due to all the Indians that lived out there.


3. Describe your style.


I call my music “Feel Good”, meaning that I feel good playing, and from what I gather from others, they feel good listening to it. I just play music. I’m 33 years old, and the majority of the music that I listen to, and have grown up listening to for most of my life has been old country and honky tonk, and delta, and hill country blues. When I was a teenager, I also listened to a lot of 70’s and 80’s punk, as well as a lot of old 1960’s garage rock, but for the most part, the country and blues out weighs the rest of my personal music collection. I own about 3000 c.d.s, about 1000 or so records ranging anywhere from blues, to country, to punk to garage rock, and experimental music, etc. My country record collection being from about 1977 or so back to Jimmie Rodgers, one of my biggest inspirations, along with Hank Williams Sr. and Lefty Frizzell.


4. You sing a great deal about Satan/the Devil. Do you believe that "satan is real"? And if so, where does he live?


I feel that the devil exists inside of every living human-being, there inside of our minds, and our hearts, and that we as human-beings are constantly trying our best to not give in to his temptations. We are always battling the devil that exists there inside of us. The devil that appears in the songs that I write is nothing more than ourselves, or a metaphor for the things that don’t go our way in life, such as in my song “My Woman Got The Devil” or my song “Satan’s Farm”


5. In keeping with the thematic track, your songs often deal with the darker side of life (murder, drinkin', bad men doing bad things, etc.). Is this something that springs from your mind/imagination or do you pull from real life experiences.


I would have to say that my songs are a cross between my own imagination, experiences that I’ve had myself, as well as experiences that other people have had. For the most part, I don’t feel that they are necessarily about the darker side of life, they are just about life in general. These subjects are an element that I’m around everyday of my life, I do not seek them out, for the most part they tend to seek me out whether I want them or not. If I had the choice of writing great songs about the heart-ache and sadness that I have experienced, or the choice of being able to live in a life of bliss and at peace with myself, I’d choose to live at peace with myself. Writing songs, or stories is the only way for me to release all of that which has been building up inside of me, whether it be right or wrong, and that inspiration comes from all directions in my life.


6. This might be redundant based on the previous question, but your onstage persona is vastly different than your offstage persona (at least based on our interactions at the Festival). Are Shilo Brown and Bloody Ol' Mule two completely separate individuals, or do they feed off each other , the real life person and the created stage persona?


When Howling Wolf used to perform, he was the Wolf on stage, and pretty much Chester Burnett off stage, and Daddy to his kids. When I perform, there is a sort of possession that comes over me when I’m playing music, I am somewhat possessed when I’m up there on stage playing.


7. Tell us about your experiences at the Deep Blues Festival.


It was one amazing experience. When I got home from the festival, 2 to 3 days laters, I was having dreams every night that I was still at the festival, either playing, or hanging out with all the great people that I got to hang out with and meet. So, I definitely feel that the Deep Blues Festival had a great impact on me. It was one of the best things I’ve ever done in my life, and I hope to be able to do it again next year. Chris Johnson is a bright spirit, and a beautiful human-being, who takes good care of each one of us musicians with a personal touch, as if we were all his children. The Deep Blues Festival is the most comfortable I’ve felt playing at a festival.


8 . Your records seem to tend towards more of a Country/Hillbilly style, while your performances at the Blues Fest highlighted, obviously, your more Blues oriented stylings (while maintaining a bedrock of Country). Do you find these styles mutually exclusive, or do you find Country and Blues almost two sides of the American coin? Which style do you feel more comfortable with?


I think that real country music, and real blues are pretty much one in the same. Hank Williams Sr. learned how to play from Tee-Tot a black street musician, as well as Jimmie Rodgers doing the same with all the black street musicians that fascinated him growing up. Lightnin’ Hopkins once said that country music ain’t nothing but white man’s blues. I feel that these two styles of music go hand in hand. I, myself don’t classify my music as either one or the other, for me it is just music. I play what I like to play and that is all.


9. You're also a writer. Tell us about yr stories and poems. Who are your influences? What separates your written pieces from you music?


I would have to say that I am more of a story-teller than a writer. I’ve got a spoken word album called Good Greasy Meat that will be coming out sometime in the fall of this year. The stories, just like the songs that I write, usually spawn from either my own experiences or from the things that I’ve been told over a few cold beers in some beer joint. I write about the elements of life that I know about. One should always write about what they know. I am mostly interested in Southern writing, and mostly southern grit-lit, writers such as Larry Brown, Harry Crews, Tom Franklin, etc. I seem to relate more to their story telling as opposed to other genres of writing. They write about the characters that I know, and have grown up with all my life. I relate to what they are writing about, and it makes me feel good to know that there’s people out in the world who are just like me, and that I’m not alone in my ways of thinking and living.


I’ve owned and operated a new and used bookstore and record store in Oklahoma City since 1997 called Book Beat & Co. where I’ve also held live shows in the bookstore as well as artshows and such.

10. What's next? Plug your next record and/or shows.


Before I left for the Deep Blues Festival, I recorded a sessions of songs for an album that I’m calling Lonesome Midnight Bawlers, a collection of sad and lonely tears in your beer country weepers that I’ve written. A collection of pure honky tonk material. Then I’ve got another recording session set up in a few months to record 18 to 19 songs for the new Bloody Ol’ Mule album that will be called Between Pig’s Ditch and Blood Creek. Also, I’m working on publishing a new collection of short stories and poems as well.




Now then, if that aint enough for y'all, and the following tunes aren't enough either, and more tunes at his myspace page, here's what we're gonna do. If you buy an album from Bloody Ol' Mule (check his myspace page for contact info), we here at the Mountain will personally make you mix cd or mp3 mix in whatever style/genre/theme of your choosing. Shilo's also a damn good writer, and we'd count buying one of his books as eligible too. All you gotta do is tell us you bought something, and we'll get you hooked up, we trust all y'all that much. More and different promotions to come in subsequent Deep Blues Thursdays.

Bloody Ol' Mule: Truck Stop Whore (mp3)

Bloody Ol' Mule: Snake Hunt Holler (mp3)

Bloody Ol' Mule: Holy Ghost Power (mp3)

Please support these artists. They're keeping real, non-crap, non-watered down music alive. The sound of a deeper American ghost. We'll do what we can to help.

Deep Six

Waiting, waiting, waiting....

We're still trying to put in words how great the Deep Blues Festival was. It's hard to distill 5 days of great music, and even better people, into a pithy post.

We would be remiss if we didn't recognize Chris Johnson, the founder, for the passion, love, and heart he put into the festival. I've never been to an event before where every band made a point to thank and praise the man responsible for bringing them there. This happened at the Deep Blues Festival. Mr. Johnson is a visionary, and an example of how to put your soul into action.

And, we must also mention all the artist involved (70 bands, duos, and one-man bands), from T-Model Ford, Elmo Williams, and CeDell Davis to Pure Country Gold, Ten Foot Polecats, Bloody Ol' Mule, Black Diamond Heavies, and countless others. This was the type of festival where the artists roamed freely throughout the crowd, encouraging you to engage them in conversations, rabidly checking out other artists, and even sitting down for a beer with anyone who would ask. Such acknowledgment of fans is a rare thing indeed in the current music scene. But the Blues lend themselves to interaction, don't they?

We'll get to covering other music shortly, but for today we want to do a special edition of our Six Pack series, focusing on artists who played at the Festival.

We'd also like to announce, for the foreseeable future, a new series here at the Mountain. We're gonna call it Deep Blues Thursday (starting next week), and we'll be covering many of the artists who either played at the Festival, or whose brand of Hill Country Blues/Punk Blues/Hillbilly Blues, etc. matches the aesthetic forged and lovingly curated at the Fest. We'll being doing interviews with the artists, and offering special incentives and, yes, giveaways. Keep your eyes peeled to this site for more announcements. Things are afoot (which partly explains my posting delay).

So, today's Six Pack, featuring artists from the Deep Blues Festival. We've got The High Plane Drifters, Dooley Wilson, The Speaking Tongues, The Rue Moor Counts, Restavrant, and Pure Country Gold. Ass kickers, each and every one. And we've only just begun.

Remember, all songs are pulled from vinyl (in this case all 45's). Songs are not listed in order of greatness, so check 'em all out!


High Plane Drifters: Trouble In Mind (mp3)

Dooley Wilson: Easy When You Put It On Me (mp3)

The Speaking Tongues: Looking In Your Window (mp3)

The Rue Moor Counts: On The Run (mp3)

Restavrant: Bev D. (mp3)

Pure Country Gold: Setting Sun (mp3)

Please support your local, independent rock'n'roll hootchie coo.

Moan and Howl

With the Deep Blues Festival only a week and a half away, we figger you're either going or you're not. But, hell, I thought I'd give a last ditch effort. Independent music festivals are becoming harder to come by. The Deep Blues Festival represents all that's good about music festivals. A chance to check out legends and unsigned artists alike, minus the mega-corporate sponsors, 5 dollar bottles of water, sweaty frat boys, and trendy hype from hipster websites. It's all about the music and the love of a guitar, a trap set, and a voice howling in the dark.

We sort of figger that we haven't done our job properly around these parts in promoting the festival. We should have posted about it daily, or sumsuch. What could we have done better to spur yr interest beyond a casual looksee? The lineup is impeccable, and we're sure to return with a stack of records to share with y'all.

In this economy, it's surely hard to justify travel to a festival far from home. Hell, we're blowing our entire Spring/Summer budget on it. But we feel it's worth it, if only to support the concept, and rage, rage against the dying of great music for the sake of radio play list homogenization. Do you really want to overpay to see yet another Depressed Mode reunion or a Flaming Lips show where, I bet, they'll have balloons and bunny rabbits while working through a current prog-rock fascination? Maybe so. What the hell do we know? We'd rather see a band kicking out with the nasty in a small club or in a tiny outdoor stage ripping shreds of sonic desperation. We could be wrong here, and we often are. Maybe we don't know what we're talking about. Maybe the future of music is in easily categorized genres, and an artist only has to be "good enough" for it's intended demographic. We don't think so, though. We think there's plenty of folks out there looking for something a little more.

When music becomes safe, and functions as wallpaper for an SUV trip to the mall, it loses its power to move, maaaaannnn. And so, and verily, let it be.

The previous was just our opinion, and in no way reflects the views of the organizers of any festival or the artists involved.

But, yeah, we've got opinions. Why not?

The Deep Blues Festival features such luminaries as Elmo Williams, T-Model Ford, CeDell Davis, and Pure Country Gold. But here's some more of the artists that will be there that we're pretty enthused about. By the end of the festival, we'll probably have even more. Check 'em out, and let yr ass boogie the way to the promised land.


Black Smokers: Little Nasty Girl (mp3)

Left Lane Cruiser: Big Mama (mp3)

Reverend Deadeye: Pentecostal Rattlesnake Shake (mp3)

High Plane Drifters: I Her Moan and Howl (mp3)

Black River Bluesman: Cardboard and Plastic (mp3)

Honkeyfinger: Burning Skull Blues (mp3)

Chooglin': Hal's Haberdashery (mp3)

Left Lane Cruiser: Set Me Free (mp3)

Please support yr local independent music fests. Otherwise yr stuck with corporate-mandated music for the masses.

Delta Land

Got some more Deep Blues Festival love for y'all today. I know there's at least 3 of youns' gonna be there, but what about the rest of ya, slackers all? Honestly, can you convince us that there's a better value for yr hard earned buck out there? They even have camping available. Bet they'll be some picking and grinning going on with a few cans of something tasty to drink. Are you really gonna waste yr money on another Telluride corporate cash grab? Jaysis, just check out the line up!

Well, here's another feller to whet yr appetite. Jim Mize is a favorite 'round these parts. We posted, briefly, way back when, when his last record "Release It To The Sky" made our Top 10 Albums of the Year. Our opinion hasn't changed one bit. In fact, the record's gotten better with age. Here's what we said then:

Mize is a beer-drinking juke and VFW honed singer and musician in the vein of other Mountain favorites like Seasick Steve, Tom House, Cast King, and James Hand. He's been in the trenches too long to be pretty. Ostensibly, Mize is a blues singer, minus the guitar solos and throaty wails. He's taking you to a darker place, a wellspring of down and out beyond the cliches of the genre. His voice has a cracked weariness that matches his neon-lit, southern observations. A dark album that rocks, taking you to closing time with a shot glass and loneliness.

That just about says it all, then, really. Check it out.

Jim Mize: Delta Land (mp3)

Jim Mize: Acadian Lullabye (mp3)

Jim Mize: Disappear In America (mp3)

Please support your local, independent...well...anything. In these tough economic times, it's yr local businesses that need the most help. Wal-Mart's gonna be just fine, thank you very much. Help your neighbor out, instead.

Stitched In Sin

Edit: It is very highly recommended that y'all check out the first comment on the post below. Good news for anyone sitting on the fence about the Blues Fest. And make sure you say thank you.

More Deep Blues Festival today. They've announced the full lineup and daily schedule, and also have made single day tickets available. So what's your excuse? Do you really need to see a reunion of some crappy, overly-precious band from LA at LollipopAlooza? We think not. You need to hear some deep blues, all throbbing distorted hoot an holler. This aint no pussy-assed Blues, this is the real deal, from octogenarian shouters from Mississippi to snotty whippersnappers with a blues punk urge.

Got yer perfect example of the latter right here.

The Black Diamond Heavies hail from, ahem, "the Southern States of America" (Nashville?), and make an unholy mess of rumbling sweat-drenched gut-bucket blues noise. A duo (yes, one of those...), vocalist/guitarist/organist James Leg sounds like the bastard son of Howlin' Wolf and rips off shreds of filthy guitar scunge. But then he hits the organ (or keyboard of choice), and the whole affair goes swingslut soul. Drummer Van Campbell keeps it slime-oozed tribal and rumbles yr ass like god on vacation in hell. They're, like, heavy, maaaannnnnn. A fucked up excursion into the dark heart of the crossroads, swinging like a sharecropper's reaper through the brush and twisted weeds of the devil's favorite swampland. Tasty like a green-fuzzed peach.

The Black Diamond Heavies are playing on the Saturday portion of the Festival. Take a listen to the following killer tracks and start making your travel plans.

Black Diamond Heavies: Poor Brown Sugar (mp3)

Black Diamond Heavies: Take A Ride (mp3)

Black Diamond Heavies: Stitched In Sin (mp3)

Black Diamond Heavies: Numbers 22 (Balaam's Wild Ass) (mp3)

Please support your local, independent holy ghost shouty types.