He’s old beyond his years, has trouble seeing, trouble walking, and for many years has belonged to that small elite of musicians that get ecstatic applause from their audiences when they come onstage, just for the fact that they have lived long enough to do it. The Media machine around Bluesrock legend Johnny Winter has trumpeted a ‘New Man’ though, and his latest CD ‘Roots’ certainly backs up the hype. Is it all true? I wanted to take a close look at the phenomenon that is Johnny Winter, and the cosy Club Concert atmosphere of Bonn’s Harmonie was the perfect place to see the man face 500 people and possibly his own demons, for 90 minutes of the Blues.
Interview – Cherry Lee Mewis
‘blues powerhouse meets hillbilly boogie’. You certainly can’t forget the description of her music, or her name for that matter: Cherry Lee Mewis. Walter Trout, Robin Trower and former Whitesnake guitarist Bernie Marsden have all shared stages with the girl who’s base is in Bedford but heart is in Memphis. This month saw the release of Cherry’s excellent third CD, ‘Heard it here First’ which impressed 3Songs so much that we wanted to know more – so we asked, and Cherry kindly took the time to answer…
Welcome to the (new) Club
Wherever I lay my hat - is my Folk Club
Bonn Folk Club laid it’s hat in a new home this month as the first evening at Haus Müllestumpe got off, literally, to a ‘Whistle Test’ of a start. There were familiar faces in new places, playing new games like ‘deciding which side of the pillar to sing round’ and ‘dodge the waiter’. It soon settled down to ‘business as usual’ though, and soon I was the one playing familiar games like ‘name that tune’ and ‘new name to check out later on Wikipedia’.
Louisiana Red Funeral/Memorial Concert
I know that Louisiana Red had many friends/fellow musicians in the Bonn area.
For all of you that would like to mourn his passing and also celebrate his life, RUF Records have sent details of a Memorial Concert to follow his Funeral in Hannover.
Just Cash – Texas Heat
How do you capture the magic of ‘A walking contradiction?’ That’s how Kris Kristofferson famously described Johnny Cash. The answer has to be – Let the music do the talking, and that’s just what ‘Texas Heat’ did in their Tribute Show to mark what would have been the great Man’s 80th year, titled Just Cash. A crowded Harmonie audience aged from 17 to 70 proved without doubt that ‘The Man’ is both as magical and as mystifying to music lovers as ever.
Davey Jones dies
Very silly, but very funny. Everyone of a certain age will remember The Monkees TV series.
With the sad news that Davey Jones has passed away at just 66 years old, here is a bit of ‘Monkees Magic’ to cheer us all up:
Louisiana Red -A Tribute
Louisiana Red would, often as not, use pick-up musicians on his gigs. He needed no rehearsals and they only needed to accompany him.
John Harrison had the task of accompanying Red on harmonica several times.
Here is his tribute to Red…
Celebrating a Legend
The Man in Black would have been 80 today (26 Feb). Johnny Cash is gone, but he leaves behind a wealth of great music.
German Band Texas Heat will be bringing some classic Cash to life at the Harmonie in Bonn on Tuesday. The band won the German Country Music Prize in 2011 so it should be a great way to celebrate one of Musics true legends.