The NEW Talking Blues - Guitar Shorty / Holmes Brothers

Listen to artists like Big Bill Broonzey or Bessie Smith or any one of the leading blues musicians from the 1930s and you'll hear political commentary as well as economic misery set to music - the so-called "talking" blues. Bessie Smith's lasting contribution to hard times -"Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out"- never sounds dated, including Bessie's wry observation -"no man'll want you when you're down and out" - a harbinger of women's lib. Big Bill Broonzy's "Mule Riding Blues" is a sardonic look at poverty and class distinctions that characterized the Depression.

Fast forward from the 1930s to the 2010s. The "talking' blues are alive and well. The best example is Guitar Shorty's "Please Mr President" from his CD Bare Knuckle (Alligator) released a year before Occupy Wall Street, with the poignant refrain "Please Mr. President- lay some stimulus on on me!." Shorty's guitar solos make your eardrums bleed - his playing is supposed to have influenced both Jimi Hendrix and Buddy Guy - but singing is not his forte. It's the lyrics that get the point across: "Now I sure don't mind workin' - I'm not scared to break a sweat - I'm not lookin' for a bailout - but I gotta pay my debts!" (Guitar Shorty on Amazon). Shorty, whose real name is David Kearney, was "on message" months before the occupiers started pitching their tents, upholding the talking blues tradition of telling it like it IS!

The Holmes' Brothers have a somewhat similar lament on their CD Feed My Soul (Alligator), which was recorded in North Brookfield, Massachusetts. Instead of cutting right to the bone, they try to grin and bear it in "Edge of the Ledge" with the satirical refrain: "Standing on my head at the edge of the ledge/tryin' to figure out how to keep my family fed/I lost my job, they even repossessed my bed/standing on my head at the edge of the ledge" (Wendell Holmes, 2009). Wendell and Sherman Holmes' music ranges from blues to gospel,especially the title tune, but "Ledge" stands out as "black" humor, no pun intended.

The rebirth of the talking blues stems from the Sixties, when artists from Bob Dylan to Phil Ochs to Jim Kweskin began reviving the genre, but instead of mixing humor and irony in describing the human condition, they started a new tradition of getting right to the heart of the matter. I'm wondering if we should make "Please Mr. President" required listening for the House, the Senate and the White House the next time they decide to bail out the banks. Maybe they'll finally get the message!