RORY BLOCK * HEAVY ON THE BLUES *
Rory Block - Heavy on the Blues
M.C. Records
10 tracks - 41 Minutes
Rory recorded her first album at age 12 backing her father on The Elektra String Project. Her father ran a sandal shop in Greenwich village in the 1960's amid the booming Greenwich Village folk music scene. Folk artists like Maria Muldaur and John Sebastian influenced her desire to learn classical guitar. At age 14, she met Stefan Grossman, who introduced her to the music of the Mississippi Delta blues artists.
Subsequently she studied the styles of the original guitar masters first by listening and carefully trying to emulate the sounds she heard. At age 15, she left home to sit at the feet of the blues giants that were still alive so she could further hone her craft. Her mentors included Mississippi John Hurt, Reverend Gary Davis and Son House. She moved to Berkley California where she continued to play in clubs and coffeehouses. The result of her work is the release of thirty-five previous albums, and this her 36th album demonstrating her mastery of the roots music.
Her albums maintain the traditional country and Delta sounds resulting in seven Blues Music Awards. In the early 60's, she released an album called How To Play Blues Guitar. She continued to release albums mixing her original songs with covers of songs from those who had influenced her. Starting in 2006, she released the album The Lady and Mr. Johnson, which was dedicated to Robert Johnson. A series of tribute albums followed covering the music and styles of Son House, Mississippi Fred McDowell, Rev. Gary Davis, Mississippi John Hurt, Skip James, Bukka White and concluding with the 2018 album dedicated to Bessie Smith. And in 2022, featured a tribute to Bob Dylan on Positively Fourth Street.
This album features nine covers and one original song all clearly demonstrating her slide guitar and comfortable voice. Rory plays acoustic and slide guitars, bass and drum programming along with all vocals and brings along a few guest performers along the way. She opens with her acoustic guitar on Tommy Tucker’s whimsical 1964 “High Heel Sneakers”. Next she drops a six minute version of Little Milton’s 1972 “Walking The Back Streets” with Ronnie Earl joining her on electric guitar. She sings, "It makes me so sad to hear my baby say goodbye...that's why I walk the back streets and cry". Jimmy Vivino joins on guitar on Buddy Guy’s 2001 “What Kind of Woman Is This”. Rory said she changed some of Buddy’s male dominated lyrics to be more appropriate for her. noting "you should be here by my side, I could use a man just like you. We could do everything Adam and Eve would do".
She shifts into a gospel mode for the traditional “Hold To His Hand” recorded as an a cappella song. Joanna Connor is her next guitar guest on Jimi Hendrix’s 1967 “The Wind Cries Mary” with some fine slide guitar remaking the song to fit her style. She then makes a jump back in time to Charley Patton’s country blues 1929 “Down The Dirt Road Blues” which sounds like something Bob Dylan would have recorded.
She stays in the Delta Blues for Willie Brown’s “Mississippi Blues”. as she declares she is "goin' back to the Delta where I can have my fun, where I can drink my white lightnin' and gamble. and noting "don't the delta look lovely when that evening sun goes down". Memphis Minnie’s 1941 “Me and My Chauffeur” continues the country blues with the tale of the man who "drives so easy I can't turn him down".
Her original song “Can’t Quit That Stuff” is based on a conversation she had backstage with Hubert Sumlin, who told her “You got soul, I went to heaven” and then cites listening to a Muddy Wolf interview where he said “make people feel what I feel”. Thus her lyrics cites "blues got soul, you got to feel it when you play". Just as Buddy Guy intended on his recording of the song, Rory concludes her album by singing “I thank the Lord for letting me “Stay Around a Little Longer”. “ I won’t stop playing these blues. That’s what I think He put me here to do.” And I will say amen to that.
Rory delivers another impeccable album with solid guitar and material choice. She is frequently referenced as the standard bearer for the American roots music and certainly a leading female performer in the traditional country style blues.
Writer John Sacksteder is a retired civil engineer in Louisville, Kentucky who has a lifelong love of music, particularly the blues. He is currently the Editor of the Kentuckiana Blues Society's monthly newsletter.
This info is from: https://www.bluesblastmagazine.com/
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