Link Wray - Fire And Brimstone

Sunday, time for a classic.

"Fire And Brimstone" is a tune taken from the self-titled 1971 album by the pioneering guitarist Link Wray. The tune as far as musical style goes, is a freaking rootsy piece with some Spiritual feeling on it.

The music is an Americana blend of blues, country, gospel, and folk rock elements. This music is characterized by the purposeful use of simplified sounds to reflect the then-current vogue of blues and other roots music being used in many roots rock bands. Wray's guitar-work, composing, and vocals reflected modern rock influences. Despite publicity from radio stations and print media in the Washington, D.C. area, the album did not do well in national sales.

Some tracks from this album later surfaced on the compilation Guitar Preacher: The Polydor Years, and it was included in its entirety on 2CDs compilation Wray's Three Track Shack (Acadia/Evangeline Recorded Works Ltd./Universal Music, 2005) along with other "shack" recordings of '71 Beans and Fatback and Mordicai Jones. The album has proved influential in later decades, with THE NEVILLE BROTHERS, CALEXICO, Karl Blau, and Father John Misty, among others, recording covers of tracks from it.

Fred Lincoln "Link" Wray Jr. (May 2, 1929 – November 5, 2005) was an American rock and roll guitarist, songwriter, and vocalist who became popular in the late 1950s.

Rolling Stone placed Wray at No. 45 of the 100 greatest guitarists of all time. In 2013 and 2017 he was a nominee for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Though he began in country music, his musical style went on to consist primarily of rock and roll, rockabilly, and instrumental rock.

Enjoy today's classic!



More info @

Official Link Wray Web

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King Curtis & Champion Jack Dupree - Junker Blues

Sunday, time for a classic.

"Junker Blues" is a piano blues song first recorded in 1940 by Champion Jack Dupree. It formed the basis of several later songs including the 1949 "The Fat Man" by Fats Domino and the 1952 "Lawdy Miss Clawdy" by Lloyd Price. The song is about a drug user's conflict with life and the law, makes references to cocaine, "needles", "reefers", and life in the penitentiary, and contains admonishments against the use of hard drugs.

The song was written sometime in the 1920s by Willie Hall, known as "Drive 'em Down" Hall, a blues and boogie-woogie pianist from New Orleans. Hall never recorded nor received credit for the song. In 1940, Champion Jack Dupree, an American pianist who referred to Hall as his "father", recorded the song for the first time on Okeh Records (OKeh 06152).

In 1958, a different version of this song, Junker's Blues, penned by Dupree himself, and which focuses on the allure of hard drugs, appeared on Dupree's first album Blues from the Gutter featuring Larry Dale on guitar, Wendell Marshall on double bass, Willie Jones on drums and Pete Brown on alto saxophone.

William Thomas "Champion Jack" Dupree (July 23, 1909 or July 4, 1910 – January 21, 1992) was an American blues and boogie-woogie pianist and singer. His nickname was derived from his early career as a boxer.

Enjoy today's classic. The video is from King Curtis & Champion Jack Dupree Live from Montreux June 17th 1971 with Cornell Dupree on guitar, Jerry Jemmott on bass and Oliver Jackson on drums. Filmed two months before King Curtis' tragic death.



More info @

Official Champion Jack Dupree Allmusic

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