As I write this it looks like it is dusk outside yet it is 2:00 in the afternoon. As you know my home state of California is completely shrouded in smoke from the numerous fires burning in our state. I’ll admit that here in Huntington Beach we don’t have it as bad as many places as low fog (very unusual for this time of the year) is putting a lid on us, so to speak. The smoke is riding on top of the fog making breathing easier for us.…for the moment.  

I’ve been in touch with our friend Charlie Lange whose longtime home and residence had been threatened by the fire in the mountains above Santa Cruz. We are glad to report that it has been spared. The fire burned all around the place and took several homes in the immediate vicinity. Pretty scary stuff. Charlie remains a regular contributor to BLUES JUNCTION. His contributions are invaluable and it is good to have such an experienced, knowledgeable friend. He has toiled in these fields for decades.

On average I listen to roughly 4-5 hours of music every single day. It is what keeps me sane, although that has been the subject of some serious conjecture through the years. Much of the music I listen to comes from Charlie’s Bluebeat Music. Many of the selections from our Recommended Listening feature come from Bluebeat Music. This month is no exception.

This month we also have an exciting edition of Charlie’s Re-Issue Rodeo. Two of these offerings finally made it into our library yesterday. They are a two-disc 42 song collection from Bobby Parker. Nothing like it has previously been available. Soul of the Blues, which I just got finished listening to for the first time, is a lot of fun.

The other addition to our library is a great compilation by the Ace Record label out of the U.K. It is entitled Dirty Work Going On: Kent & Modern Records Blues Into The 60’s Volume 1. As Dick Shurman points out in his wonderful liner notes about this music, it will “...evoke a time and place that feel increasingly remote." He goes on to tell us “...that most of these sides never made it to vinyl and remained largely or completely unheard for over 60 years.”   

These 26 tracks are simply stunning. They include west coast bluesmen who, in some cases, are somewhat obscure to the biggest names in the blues field. Tracks by B.B. King and Big Jay McNeely for example are marvelous. Yet, the big surprise and some of the greatest moments are the four numbers performed by T-Bone Walker. I was aware that these tracks existed, but by this time many of Walker’s recording were subpar by his standards. This is not the case here.

With no session logs, blues fans have to use their ears to figure out who is backing the various artists. Not surprisingly the common denominator on many of these songs is Maxwell Davis. It is the consummate arranger and tenor sax man who, it is strongly suggested by Shurman, accompanies T-Bone Walker on the Hammond B3. These are some of the most exciting tracks of Walker’s career. I sat in this very chair and cried upon hearing the first few notes. For a blues fan like me this is like finding the holy grail.  

There have times this summer that I felt with the conflagration here in California, civil unrest, peaceful protests being broken up by Trump's goon squads and, of course, the worst pandemic in 100 years, that BLUES JUNCTION isn’t all that important. Sometimes it seems trivial in the wake of such suffering.

Then I think of listening to that T-Bone Walker original, Hey Hey Baby, which I heard this morning, and the connection that this music can have to our humanity and our soul and I realize that maybe this isn’t so trivial after all.

While visiting with my Mother earlier this summer while she was in hospice, she thought she had detected tears welling up in my eyes. She was probably right and gave me very explicit instructions which I followed. She said, “DON’T CRY!” She seemed very adamant about this. I followed her instructions up until T-Bone Walker opened the flood gates. She understood music and would have understood my emotional response to it.

Thank you all for understanding as well. Enjoy these and our other features we have cooked up for you as we turn the corner into fall.   Be safe, be well and be in touch.

-  David Mac