Sliding Into January

Despite the fact that Elvis Presley (January 8, 1935) and the man who first recorded him at Sun Records Sam Phillips (January 5,1923) were both born in January, two acknowledged "masters" of the blues slide guitar also arrived during the same month - Mississippi Fred McDowell (January 12, 1904) and Elmore James (January 27, 1918). Ever since I saw Tom Rush press down on his guitar strings with a regular kitchen knife during a performance at the Mooncusser in Oak Bluffs, I've been a fan of the note-stretching style that has a down home feel to it, the molasses thick lazy chords seeming to hang in your ears the way the last note of the Beatles' "A Day in the Life" just seems to reverberate forever.

Elmore James is better known than Mississippi Fred, primarily for his "hit" song," Dust My Broom", first recorded in 1951. I had assumed it was his tune until I heard the Robert Johnson version, but the distinctive riff that propels the song became James' signature. Some of his other classics include "Baby Whar's Wrong?", "Strange Kinda Feeling" and "Can't Stop Lovin'" as well as Elmore's take on Hawaiian slide in "Hawaiian Boogie" but his place in musical history is cemented in place by the opening chords of "Broom".

I've only ever seen one Mississippi Fred McDowell CD , a live performance at the Gaslight in New York on November 5, 1971 called "Shake 'Em On Down" ( Tomato Records). His slide is powerful and strident, a throbbing, pulsating sound that gets under your skin. Before playing "Shake", I had only heard Bonnie Raitt doing a McDowell tune, and a brief live segment of McDowell at the Newport Folk Festival, discovering that Mississippi Fred wasn't able to quit farming in the Delta and devote himself full time to music until he was over 60. The Gaslight appearance is a relaxed, funky, spine-tingling mix of McDowell's commentary and his bottleneck slide on "John Henry", "Shake 'Em On Down" , "Baby Please Don't Go" and "You Got To Move", which was also "covered" by Mick Jagger. This was one of his last performances, allowing Mississippi Fred McDowell to give the audience a little insight into his craft""...I hope you're all enjoying my type of playin'...And that's the blues...Blues is a feelin', you understand. And I really feel what I'm playin'."

Of course more people know about Elvis Presley than have ever heard of Elmore James or Mississippi Fred McDowell, but their contribution is obvious every time you hear that distinctive melodic whine.