The Social Freelancer: Media, Music, TV & Film

I have been doing a lot of blues, boogie and roots music surfing online lately. Below are links to seven excellent sites I have discovered for insight on the MUSIC.

The list is not “scientific”, “all encompassing”, “definitive” or any of those fanciful terms, just spots I like for the music I love. If you are a fan of blues music and its history, I’ll bet you’ll enjoy them as well.

What’s your favorite? Any others you would like me to know about? Hope so! Comment below if you please… Thanks!

Willie Dixon courtesy The Willie Dixon Fan Club

The blues are the roots and the other musics are the fruits.
- Willie Dixon

Shuffle on to these seven sites for history and music for the soul. >>> Read more…

“I see you watching me like a hawk. I don’t mind about the things you talk. But if you touch me something’s got to give. I live the life I love and I love the life I live.” ~ Willie Dixon
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As a kid, I was into music. I was fortunate to grow up listening to a musical stew brewed up by my older brothers and their friends whose taste was, let’s say, “diverse”.
The Beatles, Cream, Harry Chapin, Led Zeppelin, Zappa, and Little Feat shared a room sometimes with Count Basie and his Orchestra, Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin and BB King. Out back on the patio? Lynyrd Skynyrd, Allman Brothers, ZZ Top, Charlie Daniels Band and the Edgar Winter Group.

Willie Dixon courtesy of The Willie Dixon Fan Club

The great Freddie King hailed from Dallas, Texas and tore up stages all over the world with his blistering brand of electric blues before his untimely death at age 42 in 1976. His vocal and guitar prowess were without match and have now influenced a generation of players. Often imitated, never duplicated – Freddie King!
This video of “The Texas Cannonball” is Freddie at his best, live onstage in Sweden, 1973, performing “Have You Ever Loved A Woman.” This one is on my top 10 best electric blues songs ever written list, for sure. Enjoy the video…> Read more…

South Texas Soul: The San Antonio Sound – Augie Meyers, Doug Sahm and the history and influence of South Texas on popular music of today. Documentary filmmaker Tracy Ready examines the influence of German, Polish and Irish immigrants in South Texas on popular music styles including Country, Tejano, Blues and Rock and Roll, from a unique perspective.

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Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown was born April 18, 1924 in Vinton, Louisiana and died September 10, 2005 in Orange, Texas. While known primarily as a “bluesman”, he hated such titles. He was a master musician who defied being pigeonholed in any genre. His live shows ranged the gamut of American music. Jazz, rock, blues, cajun and bluegrass came soaring out of this man, who kept grinning through it all.

“I play American and World music, Texas style.”
- Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown

>>READ ON >> Check out four videos from Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown >> Read more…

Guitars & horns wailin' at final DFW Blues Society Jam at Pearl - Photo by Tracy Ready

Goodbye to Pearl, a great blues club in Dallas, Texas whose owners have shut the doors after four years of providing top notch blues and jazz acts a great venue to play downtown. Victims of an economy in which many can’t afford to drive downtown, pay for parking and attend shows, the closing of Pearl is a tragic loss to the musical soul of Dallas.

>READ ON > See 2 videos from Miss Marcy & her Texas Sugardaddys >>
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Larry Carlton is simply an amazing guitarist whose work I first became aware of in the 70′s as the guy who played great solos on some of Steely Dan’s early recordings. He’s a “musician’s musician”, able to play with fluidity and grace in a wide variety of styles and formats. I’m particularly partial to his more electric jazz, rock and blues fusion bands but he’s also made his name in “smooth jazz” as an acoustic player. My favorites are ones like this.. NIGHT SWEATS.
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Great Lineup for Second Texas Music Conference!

The second Texas Music Conference hosted by Dallas Public Library is this Saturday, September 11th. This is an informative series put on for free by the library and is a must for music fans, history buffs, musicians and anyone interested in the diverse musicology of Texas.

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Miss Marcy & her Texas SugarDaddys CD Release:

The stars are aligning in the muggy North Texas heat this week. Miss Marcy and her Texas SugarDaddys, a group of some of my favorite Dallas players are releasing new CD with a show at my favorite blues club in the world (and believe me I’ve been to a bunch) – PEARL in Dallas, Texas.
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Hats off to the Dallas Public Library for hosting Texas Music Mini-Conference with an amazing line up of speakers, authors, historians – all for FREE. We attended these sessions in Dallas recently. It was a very informative day, and we received some very positive feedback on the trailers for South Texas Soul: The San Antonio Sound and Dallas Electric: The Texas Blues Story.
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