WorldofBlues.com

Wow I Just Got Gerry Hundt’s Blues Mandolin Album From Emusic

I subscribe to eMusic which provides me with 30 MP3 downloads a month. This gives me an opportunity to sample lots of great blues music and keep my MP3 player filled with fresh tunes. I was really impressed this month as I was able to get the whole album “Since Way Back” by Gerry Hundt. I only discovered Gerry’s music a couple of days ago and was throughly enjoying his myspace page. You can get his album too by signing up for a free eMusic trial by clicking on the image at the end of this post.

For now here is an MP3 Widget from Amazon so you can sample this fine album or if you want to read more on Gerry Hundt check out my brief post and Gerry’s Myspace page here. But most importantly come on back and sign up for your free eMusic trial to get the album free and to support Worldofblues.com.

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Ry Cooder Blues, Mandolin and So Much More

I’ve always been a Ry Cooder fan. His name appears several times in the book Boogie Man - The Adventures of John Lee Hooker in the 20th century” by Charles Shaar Murray and this peaked my interest in blues tunes Ry Cooder may have recorded. Ry was one of a cast of many stars on the John Lee Hooker album Mr. Lucky and a quick search shows many blues tunes in the Ry Cooder MP3s on Amazon.com. Ry’s first two albums would have you believe he was to be a new generation blues artist and truth be told he is frequently recruited for his talents in this area. His first album “Into the Purple Valley” included tracks by Leadbelly and Blind Willie Johnson. Here are some previews of MP3’s available from those first two albums:

You’ll notice some mandolin on those preview and indeed in addition to an accomplished guitar play Ry is also an accomplished mandolin player. Here is a wonderful clip of Ry Cooder blues mandolin that also includes many fascinating facts about Ry Cooder.

RY Cooder also played mandolin in Love in Vain by the Rolling Stones. Ry was recognized by all as an excellent musician recording with many popular artists. His earliest recordings are playing slide guitar with the inovative Captain Beefheart. He played with Little Feat, John Lee Hooker, Taj Mahal, several times with The Rolling Stones and also on Randy Newman’s first album. Ry was also responsible for the Crossroads Movie Soundtrack and appeared in the Buena Vista Social Club sound track. I’m sure this only scratches the surface of Ry’s impact on modern music. Indeed it only addresses one of several genres he has been associated with.

Ry’s musical abilities also impressed some other innovator in the recording industry. I remember, long before my obsession with computers started, being blown away with the sound quality on Ry Cooder’s album Bob Till You Drop. This album was proudly displayed in my collection not only because of its excellent sound quality and unique musical qualities but it also sported a special DDD insignia on the back indicating Digital recording, Digital transfer and Digital final master. I believe Ry Cooders Bop Till You Drop may have been the first DDD recording available and represented state of the art recording quality in its day. So Still my favorite Ry Cooder album is still Bop Till You Drop and I don’t think this pick is just a sentimental favorite. I think most Ry Cooder fans would agree this was Ry Cooder’s finest to date.

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Gerry Hundt Plays Some Awesome Blues Mandolin

Lately I’ve had a keen interest in blues mandolin. I need to thanks my friend on Twitter, Keith Shapiro for introducing me to Gerry Hundt. Gerry plays some awesome blues on Mandolin. Check this out.

Gerry is a musician with many talents and I’d encourage you to check out his myspace page at http://www.myspace.com/gerryhundt for a display of his talents. Gerry has and album as well that is also available asMP3s on Amazon that you can preview by clicking this widget or vist the page by clicking the ad below. Thanks again Keith for the introduction.

Hey this just in! Gerry Hundt’s album “Since Way Back” on eMusic. By signing up for a eMusic free trial clicking here or on the ad on this page you can get 25 free MP3s. Get Gerrry Hundt’s entire album and get 12 other tunes free too if you like!

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Blues Mandolin

Click on the widget above to hear some fine blues mandolin while you read this post.
A while back I took and interest in less common instruments being used in blues and found that actually banjo, violins and an early single string instrument known as the diddley bow were prominent blues instruments before the widespread availability of guitars. I thoroughly enjoyed my exploration of banjo blues and the discovery of Otis Talyor. To be honest I found very little remaining violin blues except Papa John Creech which is not a blues style I fully appreciate and a wonderful video you can view here. I started to wonder about Mandolin Blues since thats an instrument I’ve appreciated in the past.
A quick search turns up many interesting facts about Mandolin and an excellent book called Mandolin Blues: From Memphis to Maxwell Street by Rich DelGrosso. According to the Rich DelGrosso one of W.C. Handy’s first encounters with the blues (which apparently he didn’t fully appreciate at the time) included witnessing a band comprised of a guitar, a mandolin and bass earning more in tips from a crowd than W.C. Handy was paid. The book goes on to explain the transition of blues music into ragtime with the mandolin players influence. Makes sense when you think about it.
From there it was easy to find lots of great mandolin blues. The stars of the genre seem to be Yank Rachell, Johnny Young, Howard Armstrong and Charlie McCoy. I’ve put some links to the titles at the end of this post for you all of the mandolin fans out there. I plan to blog more about Mandolin and the blues and a Ry Cooder post I’m working on also includes some mandolin blues so I hope you’ll check back soon as I explore this topic further. In the mean time here is wonderful youtube video by Vol Stevens.

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