Straight Up & On the House

- notes -

This CD began on a trip to Oxford, Mississippi, where I picked up a copy of Fat Possum Publications’ book and CD set, Darker Blues. There I was introduced to the remarkable work of blues players in the hills of northeast Mississippi, especially that of R.L. Burnside and Junior Kimbrough. These musicians often used only one chord throughout an entire song, but delivered blues of extraordinary depth and power. So, in spite of never having played an electric guitar lead before (I mean, How hard could it be?), I decided to put my Darker Blues inspiration to work on a collection of my own.

Early in the recording process, I sent a couple of the songs to my son, Hoke III, for his feedback. I raised him right, so he loves the blues, and he has a far better ear than I. His response was, in part, to completely re-work my tracks, giving the songs an electronica twist. (“Electronica” covers a host of styles, with designations such as “techno,” “house,” etc. For the CD title, I chose “house,” which is most accurately applied to Hoke’s treatment of Telephone.) I loved his transformations, so we decided to include his versions on the CD.

I have always loved Bo Diddley’s Who Do You Love? where he both acknowledges and mocks the menace so often contained in requests for expressions of affection. “I’m just 22 and I don’t mind dyin’. Who do you love?” I’d never noticed before, but this song stays on one chord throughout.

Goin’ Away Blues is by William “Do-Boy” Diamond, from Canton, Mississippi. His voice, timing and guitar work are nothing short of a miracle. Find anything you can by him and be amazed.

R.L. Burnside’s Goin’ Down South is another one-chord wonder. Here I’ve given it a standard rock back-beat, but listen to the original and you’ll hear something more akin to the fife and drum rhythms of northeast Mississippi.

ZZ Top is, to my mind, the best blues-rock band in the universe. More than one chord in Jesus Just Left Chicago, but absolutely bad to the bone.

There’s more Delta than Chicago in Muddy Waters’ Louisiana Blues. I really love his earlier stuff.

The inclusion of Arthur “Big Boy” Crudup’s Mean Old Frisco Blues was inspired by Carl Radle’s bass line on the song as recorded by Derek and the Dominoes (Eric Clapton). Radle played it on a bass guitar; I’ve semi-replicated it here on an electric upright bass. It was Crudup’s song, That’s All Right, that launched Elvis Presley’s career with Sun Records.

Money is here given a blues, as opposed to Barett Strong’s original Motown, treatment. Written by Janie Bradford and Berry Gordy, Money was the hit that launched Berry’s now-legendary Motown label. I discovered after recording it that I’d transformed a key lyric. The original is “...that’s what I want.” not “...that’s all I want.” Apologies to purists everywhere.

Mississippi John Hurt’s Coffee Blues is a double-entendre piece that inspired the name of the 60s pop rock group, The Lovin’ Spoonful. I usually finger-pick the tune acoustically. Here, I did the finger-picking on a Stratocaster, but pushed that track into the background, giving the lead to the mandolin.

Fannie Mae was a #1 R&B hit for Buster Brown in 1960. Brown played harmonica on the intro and solo, with a couple of saxes playing the song’s signature riff throughout. I tried doing all the parts on guitar, but it sounded too jangly, so I midi-ed in the sax parts and added a harmony vocal to tone it down.

Taj Mahal is a hoot. I saw him perform once; he was playing slide guitar, and was backed up by four tubas. I used to finger-pick Fishin’ Blues, but tried slide here and liked it.

Junior Kimbrough is the other northeast Mississippian (besides Burnside) represented here. I learned his song Done Got Old from Buddy Guy’s Sweet Tea album, and have melded Guy’s ad lib, field holler, vocal treatment with my own more diffuse, Kimbroughesque, guitar line. This song spoke to me, God knows why.

Among Hoke III’s re-worked House Tracks are two songs that I wrote, and which are included on my originals CD, Midnight Shadow, in different versions:

Snakey Love is a single-entendre piece I wrote in the early ’80s, inspired by my wife, Katy, on the one hand, and Hoke III’s herpetological interests on the other. Hoke is working here from a Bo-Diddley-ish rock version I recorded, playing the banjo lead using a guitar slide on my left hand. (I don’t think a lot of people have tried that.) At a couple of junctures, Hoke disassembled the notes I’d played on the banjo and reassembled them into a very cool minor riff. His attention to detail, as well as his musicality, on the House Tracks is absolutely awe-inspiring.

Telephone is my first attempt at a one-chord piece. (I didn’t succeed: there’s a quick IV chord in there in addition to the I.) I really like the lyrics (all modesty aside), and really love what Hoke III did with it.

Who did what:

On the Straight Up tracks, acoustic, electric and resophonic guitars, banjo, mandolin, bass, midi saxes, drum programming and vocals: Hoke Simpson Jr. (That’s me; I’m suffixed.)

All arrangements and sounds on the House tracks, not identifiable as those just cited, including harmony vocal on Fishin’ Blues, tons of drums and lots of bass: Hoke Simpson III.

Chimes in Jesus Just Left Chicago, house version: Church of St. Étienne, Château-Renard, France.

Laughter in Jesus Just Left Chicago, house version: Katy.