Just Rocking The Blues profile picture

Just Rocking The Blues

Lo-Fi Rockin' Blues

About Me

"When I first heard Little Victor & Miss Sophie, I tought I was in Handy Park in Memphis in the late 1980s. That's because this is exactly where Victor was at that time, and this is where the soul of his music comes from. This park on Beale Street was back then the headquarters of a wonderful array of transient people -old timers who liked to sit on benches and reminisce about the glory days, when Memphis was the "Home of the Blues ". Among these folks were a few old blues musicians, and playing along with them and helping them out was Little Victor.The most memorable were Uncle Ben Perry ; a guy known as " Alabama "and Clarence " Pops " Davis, a musician who had hung out with the Memphis Jug Band. All three were irascible charaters, and few other musicians wanted to play with them. Their sounds were distorted, they didnÕ t make the " correct " changes, and they always seemed to be grouchy to their accompanist when they made mistakes.They also wanted to keep most of the money they made rather than share it with other musicians. Victor didn' t mind. He knew this was the real stuff, the music that isn' t taught in tablature books and can' t be learned just listening to records. Maybe these guys weren' t the greatest living bluesmen, but they had been there.They had lived it. They had the essence. They didn' t pretty up their music for tourists. They sang and played from the heart.Little Victor stuck with them through the blazing heat of several Memphis summers and he was accepted into the privileged status of one of the Uncle Ben' s Nephiews along with Big Lucky Carter and many other Memphis blues musicians. Little Victor absorbed the blues feeling of these men, applying to his own repertoire And style, and now he has met the perfect partner, miss Sophie Kay. Together they replicate and update a classic blues sound as heard on old 78 rpm records by Kansas Joe & Memphis Minnie, Big Bill Broonzy, Muddy Waters, Blind Boy Fuller, Big Boy Crudup and others.I think Little Victor's music should be placed some notches above the vast majority Of what' s out there in the blues field today - all the stuff that has little grounding in the tradition and just represents superficial borrowing and adaptation. Record producers, promoters and agents out there should be able to hear how good his music is " Just Rockin' The Blues " is a great CD.It' s got a great groove. It sounds like something I might have heard in a West Memphis bar in the early 1950s !"DAVID EVANS* David Evans is a blues music historian and ethnomusicologist at the University of Memphis, were he directs graduate programs and produces for the University's High Water Label. He' s directly or indirectly responsible for most of us being aware of Jack Owens, Johnny Shines, RL Burnside, Robert Belfour, Jessie Mae Hemphill, Hammie Nixon, Junior Kimbrough, Othar Turner, Big Lucky Carter and countless others. He's the author of " Tommy Johnson " and " Big Road Blues ", two of the cornerstone works on the subject.

My Interests

Music:

Member Since: 12/3/2006
Band Members: Little Victor -Vocals, Guitar & Harp / Miss Sophie Kay -Guitar & Vocals / other personnel unknown
Influences: Kansas Joe & Memphis Minnie, Jimmy & Mama Reed, Mickey & Sylvia, Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup, Sonny Terry & Brownie McGee, Betty James,Lightnin' Hopkins, JB Lenoir, Jimmy Rogers, Muddy Waters, Little Walter, Baby face Leroy, John Lee Williamson, Eunice Davis, Louisiana Red...
Sounds Like: Vintage Lo-Fi Juke Joint Blues
Record Label: Blue Rabbit
Type of Label: Indie